Hey Pete! It looks like Senator Mitchell posts here too!

Congress?

The Justice Department?

Baseball players?

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.

Roger should have admitted to juicing and apologized – and not lied under oath.

Now he’s in deep doo-doo.

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.

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?”]