At 10am this morning, Roger Clemens and Brian McNamee will sit down before a Congressional Committee, and things aren’t looking good for The Rocket:
WASHINGTON — Roger Clemens will be confronted with a new and damaging affidavit from Andy Pettitte when he appears before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on Wednesday to testify about allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs, two lawyers familiar with the matter said late Tuesday.
Clemens will also be asked about corroborating information that committee staff members developed on their own that ties Clemens to such drugs, the lawyers said. That information, they said, stands separate and apart from the assertions made about Clemens by his former personal trainer, Brian McNamee, who contends that he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone from 1998 to 2001.
The two lawyers familiar with what may be confronting Clemens at the hearing spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. They would not reveal details of the new Pettitte affidavit or of the new information obtained apart from McNamee’s assertions.
“The committee is not messing around and has other damaging evidence against Roger,” one of the lawyers said.
The other lawyer said, “Andy said enough to really hurt Roger.”
Clemens continued to insist on Tuesday that he never received injections. He made those denials while visiting privately with six more members of the committee, bringing his three-day lobbying total to 25 of the 40 committee members. But in many respects, it was the calm before a momentous clash for Clemens, the most decorated pitcher in baseball history.
Sports Illustrated is reporting that Pettitte said in the affidavit that Clemens acknowledged using HGH:
WASHINGTON (AP) — Roger Clemens told Yankees teammate Andy Pettitte nearly 10 years ago that he used human growth hormone, Pettitte said in a sworn affidavit to Congress, The Associated Press learned Tuesday.
Pettitte disclosed the conversation to the congressional committee holding Wednesday’s hearing on drug use in baseball, a person familiar with the affidavit said. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the document had not been made public.
According to the person familiar with the affidavit, who said it was signed Friday night, Pettitte also said Clemens backtracked when the subject of HGH came up again in conversation in 2005, before the same House committee held the first hearing on steroids in baseball.
Pettitte said in the affidavit that he asked Clemens in 2005 what he would do if asked about performance-enhancing substances, given his admission years earlier. According to the account told to the AP, the affidavit said Clemens responded by saying Pettitte misunderstood the previous exchange in 1999 or 2000 and that, in fact, Clemens had been talking about HGH use by his wife in the original conversation.
Let me say up front that I don’t think this should even be a Congressional issue. It’s an internal baseball matter. But, that’s not what’s at stake here. Clemens put himself out front when the allegations came out in December by denying them publicly and, apparently, under oath. Now, the evidence is stacking up and it’s looking more and more like he was lying.
That’s called perjury. And that’s a problem.
It’s sad really. On some level I don’t care that Clemens, or any other ballplayer, used steroids, but he’s not going to destroy his career and his life because he used steroids. He’s going to destroy them both because, apparently, he lied.
Do I feel bad for Clemens ? Not really, he’s cooked his own goose at this point. But this whole mess makes me feel sorry for this kid, and all the other Clemens fans out there.
