Roger Clemens was interviewed by Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes last night and denied in the strongest words possible the allegation that he had used steroids:
Roger Clemens said his former personal trainer’s accusation that he had used steroids and human growth hormone was “totally false,” in a “60 Minutes” broadcast Sunday. The interview set up a showdown next week before a Congressional committee that has summoned them to testify under oath.
(….)
Clemens, in the interview, said McNamee never told him that he had discussed Clemens with Mitchell — “didn’t tell me a word” — but asked Clemens for a favor a few days before the report came out.
“He e-mails me and asks me where all the good fishing equipment is down at Cabo — that I bought — so he can go fishing,” Clemens said. “‘Thank you very much.’ I said: ‘Have a good time. Go fishing.’ Doesn’t say a word that you — that, you know, I’m fixing to bury you with all these accusations, and what do we do about it? Didn’t say a word about it.”
Emery, McNamee’s libel lawyer, said he thought Clemens was not believable and that Wallace was soft as an interviewer. He cited Wallace’s asking Clemens what McNamee would gain by lying. “Evidently not going to jail,” Clemens replied.
Emery said: “In reality, it was the exact opposite. The only way he could go to jail was if he did lie. So it was truly perverse that Wallace didn’t follow up on that.”
Much of the “60 Minutes” interview was disclosed last week after Wallace talked about it to The New York Times. Clemens, in the interview, said McNamee had injected him with the painkiller lidocaine and vitamin B12.
Wallace asked if he ever took steroids, testosterone or H.G.H.
“Never,” Clemens said.
Wallace asked, “Swear?”
Clemens said, “Swear.”
Whether you believe Roger Clemens’ denials will depend, of course, on whether or not you believe Roger Clemens. To my mind, he struck me during the interview as a man who was pretty angry about what he contends are false allegations against him and, absent something other than the testimony of a man who fingered him in order to avoid going to jail, I think he’s at least entitled to the benefit of the doubt.
Watch the interview and decide for yourself.
