Committee seeks Clemens investigation
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Feb 27, 2008 
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Here is the letter sent from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee to the Justice Department seeking an investigation of Roger Clemens:
Dear Mr. Attorney General:
We are writing to ask the Justice Department to investigate whether former professional baseball player Roger Clemens committed perjury and made knowingly false statements during the Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s investigation of the use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs in professional baseball.
We believe that his testimony in a sworn deposition on Feb. 5, 2008, and at a hearing on Feb. 13, 2008, that he never used anabolic steroids or human growth hormone, warrants further investigation. That testimony is directly contradicted by the sworn testimony of Brian McNamee, who testified that he personally injected Mr. Clemens with anabolic steroids and human growth hormone. Mr. Clemens’s testimony is also contradicted by the sworn deposition testimony and affidavit submitted to the committee by Andrew Pettitte, a former teammate of Mr. Clemens, whose testimony and affidavit reported that Mr. Clemens had admitted to him in 1999 or 2000 that he had taken human growth hormone.
Mr. Pettitte’s testimony and affidavit further reported on two past conversations with Mr. McNamee that support Mr. Pettitte’s recollection of the 1999 or 2000 conversation with Mr. Clemens. Mr. Pettitte’s affidavit and testimony state that in a conversation with Mr. McNamee shortly after Mr. Clemens alleged admission to Mr. Pettitte, Mr. McNamee became angry when Mr. Pettitte told him that he knew that Roger Clemens had used human growth hormone because that was supposed to be confidential. According to Mr. Pettitte’s deposition, he also had another conversation with Mr. McNamee in 2003 or 2004 in which Mr. McNamee told him that he had obtained steroids for Mr. Clemens. Independently, in his deposition, Mr. McNamee recalled two conversations with Mr. Pettitte, one that could have occurred in 2000 and one in 2004, about Mr. Clemens’s HGH and steroid use that were similar in substance to the two conversations described by Mr. Pettitte.
Other evidence in the record before the Committee may be relevant to an investigation into the truthfulness of Mr. Clemens’s assertions. That evidence relates to whether Brian McNamee injected Mr. Clemens with lidocaine in 1998; whether Mr. Clemens received pain injections from trainers on all four of his major league teams; whether he regularly received vitamin B-12 injections from team doctors and trainers; whether he ever talked with Mr. McNamee about human growth hormone; whether he was at Jose Canseco’s home in Florida during the period June 8 to June 10, 1998; and whether he ever received notice that Senator George Mitchell asked to meet with him in connection with Senator Mitchell’s independent investigation of the illegal use of steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball. We also understand that federal law enforcement officials may have access to additional evidence on these matters.
Under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1621, a witness commits perjury if the witness “willfully†asserts “any material matter which he does not believe to be true†after “having taken an oath†to “testify … truly.†Under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1001, a witness commits a crime if the witness “knowingly and willfully†makes “any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation†with respect to “any investigation or review, conducted pursuant to the authority of any committee … of the Congress.â€
Congress cannot perform its oversight function if witnesses who appear before its committees do not provide truthful testimony. Perjury and false statements before Congress are crimes that undermine the integrity of congressional inquiries. For these reasons, we take evidence that a witness may have intentionally misled the Committee extremely seriously.
We are not in a position to reach a definitive judgment as to whether Mr. Clemens lied to the Committee. Our only conclusion is that significant questions have been raised about Mr. Clemens’s truthfulness and that further investigation by the Department of Justice is warranted. We ask that you initiate such an investigation. The record of the Committee’s proceedings will be made available to the Department of Justice to assist in the investigation.
Thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely,
Henry A. Waxman, Chairman
Tom Davis, Ranking Minority Member
It seems likely now that such an investigation will take place. Whether this pulls Andy Pettitte back to Washington remains to be seen. But this situation is far from over.
We’ve said it all along, Clemens is either really stupid or innocent. I am not sure anymore.
Steroids. Rocket. Congress. Incompetent. Waste of time. Yawn.
Thanks Pete. Now, back to baseball . . .
Did Jeter look better defensively?
At this point, if I’m Clemens, I would rather just be honest and say I did steroids then face sentencing on perjury. This is getting out of hand now – is all of this really worth it?
He should have just kept his mouth shut from day one.
Oh, $#!&!
Good luck, Mr. Clemens.
Oh Please. If this is our Democratic Congress at work, I may have to seriously consider voting Republican in the coming election (& I detest the current administration).
“Mr. McNamee said, Mr. Pettitte said…”
Shut it.
To Clemens, the most offensive part of this letter is calling him a “former professional baseball player.”
We all know he is guilty but these hearings are a joke.
Dana ….
The Republican Ranking Minority Member co-signed the letter requesting an investigation. You may have to vote for one of the lunatic fringe parties this year.
too bad Alberto Gonzalez can’t pull any strings anymore…
This is on automatic pilot now. the investigation was inevitable. No matter how the various parties, Clemens, Pettite or McNamee are viewed, Congress can not allow itself to be lied to and do nothing. That undermines the whole system.
This should never have reached this point, now that it has Justice will be served.
who is Roger Clemens?
Pete, how is that PEDs complicity and profiteering expose on the MLB owners, MLB Commissioner’s Office, and MLB Players Association coming along?
I note that the letter was a bipartisan request, signed by Waxman and the “ranker,” Tom Davis, the most senior Republican on the committee. It’s interesting that the bipartisan squabbling in front of the cameras seems to have disappeared when it comes to getting this sticky issue off their desk and onto someone else’s desk. Republicans and Democrats agree on one thing: they don’t want the responsibility of making the decision about whether Clemens lied. That would mean they would have to do some hard work and even worse, the wrong decision might cost them some votes, god forbid.
The letter appears to have marshaled only the evidence against Clemens, not including therefore any of the issues with McNamee’s credibility, testimony or background. Yet despite rounding up all the evidence tending only to incriminate Clemens, the Committee then states with much gravity and a straight face that they cannot figure out who is lying. Huh??? Given the view of the evidence they put in their letter, how can they say they haven’t decided who is lying? Answer: it’s called playing hot potato. Let the guys at the Justice Department figure a way out of the mess the Committee helped make. Just another example of Congress at its finest.
[In the voice of Foghorn Leghorn: "Ahem. I say, I say, I say... son... this is very serious bidness, very serious indeed, this here issue of lyin' to the You-nited States Congress. But serious as this is, we have a system of checks and balances in this fine Country of ours. We in the Legislative branch don't want to be oversteppin' our bounds. Everybody knows that serious investigatin' is an Executive Branch function, something for the Justice Department, not somethin' for the You-nited States Congress to be doin'. So we are going to defer to the professionals at the Justice Department to investigate and report back to us. Y'all have a nice day now you hear?"]
If there is insuffient evidence that Clemens lied to find him guilty of perjury, has Waxman offered to resign from Congress?
Why hasn’t the committee asked for perjury charges based on Clemens lying about attending a party at Canseco’s place as well???? How can Congress continue to function in the face of these atrocities???
Congressional hearings are not supposed to be about personal disputes. This whole situation is infinitely stupid.
At this point, I believe Clemens juiced up. So what? By the way, how is lying about his personal experiences with PES (or his attendance at a party) “material” to anything Congress is supposed to do? Materiality is central to a perjury charge.
Bush should appoint Rocket as a special counsel. Then he can just ignore any subpoenas like Karl Rove and Harriet Miers.
Clemens got bad legal advice from a blowhard Texas lawyer who thought they could celebrity-PR their way out of this.
Roger should have admitted to juicing and apologized – and not lied under oath.
Now he’s in deep doo-doo.
we told you he was a lyin’ con artist.
Not so fast on the blowhard Texas lawyer stuff.
In order to maintain a perjury prosecution for lying about PED use (Steroids and HGH) the Government still has to prove that what Roger was injected with was what McNamee says he gave him, namely, Steroids and HGH. The Government has to prove, among other things, that Roger knowingly made a false statement. Without a positive test, I don’t think the Government can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Roger knowingly lied when he testified he never used PEDs or HGH.
The McNamee syringes? They have a lousy chain of custody so any evidence gained from that stuff is suspect – - if they happen to get any positive results at all. McNamee had these items under his exclusive control for 6 or 7 years in non-laboratory or sealed condition and could have tampered with them at any time. He certainly has a motive – - to stay out of jail by nailing Clemens. Contrast the Bonds case where there is a positive steroids test under almost laboratory conditions and lawyers are still saying that it might be tough to prove Bonds knew of the test results and thus that he lied under oath about taking steroids.
Clemens has yet to fail a test. So McNamee can say it was steroids and HGH all he wants but unless he has a chemical test to prove that what went into that syringe was HGH or steroids (he likely doesn’t) the Government is the party in deep doo doo if they are serious about bringing a perjury charge. (Although if I had to guess, the Government would probably try to use Radomski along with McNamee to re-construct a chain of delivery right to Clemens if there is a trial).
It ain’t over till it’s over.
In addition to there being no “pure” evidence that we know of there must be 2 valid witnesses to pursue the perjury charge. McNamee is not considered a “valid” witness because he has lied to Mitchell, in his deposition, and the Congress (even though they aren’t going after him). Andy isn’t a “valid” witness because in his deposition he said Roger told him…
Unless there is a lot more that we don’t know about this is a distraction for Andy to worry about – and I’m sure everyone has let him know about it and will work further against Roger reaching the Hall of Fame.
I do find it questionable that none of the Major League Commissioners wants any legislation on this.
It’s ridiculous, is what it is. I’m ashamed to say this is my government at work.
Who has been caught in the most public dishonesty this year? Or this decade, for that matter?
Congress?
The Justice Department?
Baseball players?
“we told you he was a lyin’ con artist.”
Hey Pete! It looks like Senator Mitchell posts here too!