Clemens' attorney launches probe; Rocket to talk to reporters

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print

NEW YORK -- Roger Clemens' lawyers are investigating accusations in the Mitchell Report that say the star pitcher used steroids and human growth hormone.

Clemens was the biggest name in this month's report by former Senate majority leader George Mitchell that detailed widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. The seven-time Cy Young Award winner has repeatedly denied using steroids or HGH.

"On Roger's behalf, we are investigating the allegations about him contained in the Mitchell Report," Clemens' attorney, Rusty Hardin, said Wednesday in a statement. "To our surprise, we have identified several people who logic dictates the Mitchell team should have talked to but did not. That's troubling. We are asking questions and we encourage the news media to do the same."

We are asking questions and we encourage the news media to do the same.

--Clemen attorney Rusty Hardin

Clemens plans to be interviewed for an episode of CBS' "60 Minutes" that is scheduled to air Jan. 6. The pitcher will be available to answer questions from other reporters that day in Texas, said Hardin's spokesman, Joe Householder.

Hardin said the "60 Minutes" interview was slated to take place this week at Clemens' home in Texas, The New York Times reported on its Web site Wednesday.

"We are convinced the conclusions in Mitchell's report are wrong and are investigating the findings ourselves," Hardin told the newspaper.

Many of the allegations against Clemens in the Mitchell Report came from his former trainer, Brian McNamee. According to the report, McNamee said he injected Clemens with steroids in 1998 while with the Toronto Blue Jays, and steroids and HGH in 2000 and 2001, while with the New York Yankees.

The Rocket's last four Cy Young Awards came in 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2004.

Clemens posted a video Sunday on the Internet repeating his denials of the allegations against him in the report. McNamee's attorney, Ed Ward, has said his client stands by the accuracy of the information he gave to Mitchell.

"Let me be clear: The answer is no, I did not use steroids, human growth hormone, and I've never done so. I did not provide Brian McNamee with any drugs to inject into my body. Brian McNamee did not inject steroids or human growth hormone into my body, either when I played in Toronto for the Blue Jays, or the New York Yankees. This report is simply not true," Clemens said in the videotaped statement.

Another former McNamee client, Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte, said recently that he took HGH twice while rehabbing from an injury in 2002. Mitchell said McNamee told him he injected Pettitte with HGH two-to-four times that year.

"He stands 100 percent behind the accuracy of the information he provided to Sen. Mitchell," McNamee's lawyer, Ed Ward, said in a recent statement.

Ward told The New York Daily News for Monday's editions that McNamee would be willing to one day sit down with Clemens and explain his side of the story.

"Brian would be open to it, certainly," Ward told the newspaper. "I don't know if Roger would. But Brian would be open to it because he knows what he's been saying all along is honest and truthful and he'd want Roger to understand he was obligated to tell the truth.

"The bottom line is he did not want to implicate a friend and a baseball icon in a steroid scandal," Ward added. "He was asked to tell the truth and he has. That's always been his position since Day 1."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

• Recommend0
• Tweet0
• Comments0
• Email
• Print
• Subscribe