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Headline Legal News

GOP Report Questions Whether Rocket Lied



Associated Press
March 26, 2008


The top Republican on the congressional committee that investigated whether Roger Clemens used performance-enhancing drugs released a report Tuesday questioning the Democratic majority's conclusion that the seven-time Cy Young Award winner might have lied in his testimony before the panel last month.

The 109-page report, obtained by The Associated Press, contains details Rep. Tom Davis believes could challenge the credibility of Brian McNamee, the personal trainer who testified under oath he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone from 1998-01.

Republican staff from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will pass along additional information to the Justice Department. The FBI is investigating whether Clemens lied to Congress.

"Did Roger Clemens lie to us?" Davis said in a release accompanying the report.

"Some of the evidence seems to say he did; other information suggests he told the truth," the Virginia Republican said. "It's a far more complicated picture than some may want to believe. Memories fade and recollections differ. That's human nature, not criminal conduct. My concern is the integrity of sworn statements made to Congress. At this point, the Justice Department is best equipped to investigate that central question and reach a fair conclusion."

The report includes interviews with new witnesses and addresses issues such as whether Clemens attended a party at then-teammate Jose Canseco's house in 1998; information about injections of vitamin B-12; and whether Clemens developed an abscess on his buttocks.

The report "Weighing the Committee Record: A Balanced Review of the Evidence Regarding Performance Enhancing Drugs in Baseball" stands as a counterpoint to the 18-page memo released Feb. 27 by chairman Henry Waxman.

That was the day Waxman and Davis asked Attorney General Michael Mukasey to open an investigation into whether Clemens committed perjury. The following day, the Justice Department told the FBI to take up the matter.

Waxman's memo to Democratic staff outlined the reasons for the criminal referral, summarizing "seven sets of assertions made by Mr. Clemens in his testimony that appear to be contradicted by other evidence before the committee or implausible."

Those areas involve Clemens' testimony that he has "never taken steroids or HGH"; that McNamee injected him with the painkiller lidocaine; that team trainers gave him pain injections; that he received many vitamin B-12 injections; that he never discussed HGH with McNamee; that he was not at Canseco's home from June 8-10, 1998; and that he was "never told" about baseball investigator George Mitchell's request to speak before Mitchell issued his report containing McNamee's allegations.

"The Democratic staff memorandum's characterizations and conclusions regarding these other matters is simply not relevant to the core question of whether Clemens knowingly lied about using anabolic steroids and human growth hormone," Tuesday's Republican report said.

Further echoing the partisan nature of the Feb. 13 committee hearing at which Clemens and McNamee testified, the Republican report said: "More concerning, however, the Democratic memorandum reads like an advocate's brief or prosecutorial indictment of Roger Clemens."

Copyright 2008 Associated Press


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Hardin Files To Remain Clemens' Lawyer

Rusty Hardin argues in a court filing that he should be allowed to keep on representing Roger Clemens in his steroids case, responding to Brian McNamee's motion that said he should be disqualified.

McNamee, Clemens' former personal trainer, said he injected the star pitcher with steroids several times between 1998 and 2001. Clemens has repeatedly denied the allegations and filed a defamation lawsuit against McNamee.

McNamee filed a motion with U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison in Houston earlier this month, saying Hardin should no longer be allowed to represent Clemens because he also once represented Andy Pettitte, Clemens' former teammate. Pettitte has testified that Clemens informed him in 1999 that he used human growth hormone.

Hardin, in a motion filed Monday, said he only represented Pettitte for four days and said Pettitte never signed a contract or paid legal fees.

Hardin said another "unconflicted" lawyer would question Pettitte if he's ever called as a witness in Clemens' defamation suit against McNamee. Hardin also said McNamee had no constitutional right to call for Hardin's disqualification on Pettitte's behalf.

Hardin also said he and his firm, RH&A, have invested too much time and Clemens has invested too much money in the case to end their relationship now.

"During the course of their legal work, Hardin and RH&A have acquired significant knowledge of and insight into matters directly related to this lawsuit," the filing said. "The loss of that knowledge and insight due to disqualification would severely prejudice the prosecution of Clemens' defamation claims and adversely affect Clemens financially because he would have to hire new counsel and compensate them for their time in getting up to speed on the case."

McNamee's claims against Clemens first surfaced in the Mitchell Report on drug use in baseball.

McNamee also asked Ellison to dismiss the defamation lawsuit on grounds that his statements to baseball investigator George Mitchell were protected by "absolute immunity" through a deal he struck with federal prosecutors.

Hardin did not respond to that request in Monday's filing. An initial conference is scheduled for April 9.


  
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