Congress Asks Justice Dept. to Probe Whether Roger Clemens Made False Statements Under Oath
By HOWARD FENDRICH | Associated Press | Feb 27, 08 12:08 PM CST in
Sports
Congress asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Roger Clemens "committed perjury and made knowingly false statements" to a House committee.
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Henry Waxman and ranking Republican Tom Davis sent a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey on Wednesday. The two said Clemens' statements in a Feb. 5 sworn deposition and at a Feb. 13 public hearing "that he never used anabolic steroids or human growth hormone warrants further investigation."
"That testimony is directly contradicted by the sworn testimony of Brian McNamee, who testified that he personally injected Mr. Clemens with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone," the congressmen wrote.
"Mr. Clemens's testimony is also contradicted by the sworn deposition testimony and affidavit submitted to the committee by Andrew Pettitte, a former teammate of Mr. Clemens, whose testimony and affidavit reported that Mr. Clemens had admitted to him in 1999 or 2000 that he had taken human growth hormone."
McNamee, Clemens' former personal trainer, has told federal prosecutors, baseball investigator George Mitchell and Congress that he injected the seven-time Cy Young Award winner more than a dozen times with human growth hormone and steroids from 1998 to 2001. Clemens repeatedly and vigorously denied the allegations.
It was Clemens' denials of McNamee's allegations in the Mitchell Report that drew Congress' attention.
The Feb. 13 hearing generally divided along party lines, with Democrats giving Clemens a rougher time, and Republicans reserving their toughest questions for McNamee.
But Waxman and Davis jointly appealed to the Justice Department.
"For the good of the investigation and integrity of the committee, we've asked the Department of Justice to get to the bottom of this," Davis said.
Davis was the chairman of the committee when it held its 2005 hearing with Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro.
Clemens' lead lawyer, Rusty Hardin, could not immediately be reached for comment after Waxman and Davis released their letter. But about 20 minutes earlier, when informed by The Associated Press that the criminal referral would be announced Wednesday, Hardin said: "It doesn't surprise me. We've always assumed there would be a referral if Roger testified differently from the Mitchell Report."
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