After appearing with Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes, Roger Clemens filed a defamation suit against his former trainer:
In a defamation lawsuit filed Sunday night, Roger Clemens claims Brian McNamee, his longtime trainer and chief accuser of steroid abuse, was threatened with jail if he didn’t connect the pitcher to steroids.
The lawsuit was filed electronically with the Harris County civil courts Sunday evening just before CBS locally aired Clemens’ interview on 60 Minutes.
“I don’t know if I’ll ever get the naysayers back. I don’t know what I’m going to get. Maybe some of my name back,” a frustrated Clemens said Sunday. Clemens said this lawsuit will not keep him from testifying before Congress, which he plans to do without asking for immunity or invoking any rights.
The former Houston Astro is being called to testify about McNamee’s allegations that the trainer injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormones between 1998 and 2001.
The lawsuit doesn’t request a specific dollar amount and Clemens’ Houston lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said they filed the suit not to get money, but to clear Clemens’ name and discover how the allegations against Clemens came about.
Hardin said they want to learn exactly what was done and not done by federal agents and other investigators who helped U.S. Sen. George Mitchell implicate Clemens in a report on steroid use for Major League Baseball.
“This has ruined Roger’s reputation with a large percentage of the public,” said Hardin.
Well, this certainly makes this interesting. More to come, I’m sure.
