Report: Clemens' attorney hires private eyes to study McNamee

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Roger Clemens' lawyer has hired private investigators in an attempt to challenge the credibility of Brian McNamee, who has claimed to have injected Clemens with steroids, a lawyer familiar with the matter told The New York Times.

McNamee told former Sen. George Mitchell that he injected Clemens with steroids while Clemens was pitching for the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees. Clemens, the biggest star named in Mitchell's report on performance-enhancing drug use in baseball, has denied ever using steroids or human growth hormone, saying the report is "simply not true."

Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said Wednesday he would conduct his own investigation into the allegations against the seven-time Cy Young Award winner. He claimed that Mitchell had failed to interview some key people who know Clemens and McNamee, though Hardin has declined to identify those people.

"We are convinced the conclusions in Mitchell's report are wrong and are investigating the findings ourselves," Hardin said, according to The Times.

McNamee's attorney, Earl Ward, said McNamee had been thoroughly vetted by federal authorities, who accompanied him during his interviews with Mitchell, and that McNamee had been threatened with prosecution if he lied to Mitchell's investigators.

"There's nothing new in Brian's background that Clemens or his folks don't know about," Ward said, according to The Times. "Our response to all this is that Senator Mitchell's investigation was unbiased and objective. I don't think you're going to get the same degree of objectivity from Roger's camp."

According to the Mitchell report, McNamee said he injected Clemens with steroids in 1998 while Clemens was pitching for the Blue Jays, and steroids and HGH in 2000 and 2001 while he was a member of the Yankees.

Clemens' last four Cy Young Awards were won in 1997, 1998, 2001 and 2004.

CBS' "60 Minutes" will air its interview with Clemens on Jan. 6 and Clemens said he will make himself available to reporters following the broadcast.

Hardin said the interview with Mike Wallace -- a self-described friend of Clemens who said he's frequented owner George Steinbrenner's suite at Yankee Stadium -- was scheduled to take place this week at Clemens' home in Katy, Texas.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this story.

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