Clemens testifies to congressional lawyers
Roger Clemens gave private, sworn testimony for about five hours Tuesday to congressional lawyers, denying he used performance-enhancing drugs.
"I just want to thank the committee, the staff that I just met with. They were very courteous," Clemens said after emerging from the offices of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
"It was great to be able to tell them what I've been saying all along — that I've never used steroids or growth hormone.
Sporting a pinstriped grey suit, Clemens refused to take questions from reporters and was accompanied by two of his attorneys to an elevator.
Clemens's testimony on Capitol Hill comes one day after his New York Yankee teammate and close friend, Andy Pettitte, gave a 2½-hour deposition to the congressional committee.
Pettitte fully answered all the questions in a sworn statement, according to his lawyers, Jay Reisinger and Thomas Farrell.
While Clemens, 45, has repeatedly denied using steroids and other banned substances, this was the first time he has done so under oath.
Clemens's former trainer, Brian McNamee, will be interviewed by committee lawyers on Thursday.
McNamee told former U.S. Senate majority leader George Mitchell that, in addition to steroids, he injected Clemens with human growth hormone 16 to 21 times in 1998, 2000 and 2001.
Baseball banned steroids in September 2002 and HGH in January 2005.
Clemens refuted allegations attributed to McNamee in the Mitchell report — a document detailing a 20-month investigation into drugs in baseball that implicated 85 players.
The seven-time Cy Young Award winner also filed a defamation lawsuit last month against McNamee, a former strength and conditioning coach with the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees.
Clemens admitted he received injections from McNamee, but he said they were for vitamin B-12 and the painkiller lidocaine
A former Yankees teammate of Pettitte and Clemens, Chuck Knoblauch, spoke to committee staff Friday.
Clemens is 354-184 lifetime with a 3.11 earned-run average, 118 complete games and 46 shutouts in 709 appearances over 24 MLB seasons for the Boston Red Sox, Blue Jays, Yankees and Astros.
The veteran right-hander ranks second behind Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan in career strikeouts with 4,672 over 4,916 2/3 innings.
Ryan struck out 5,714 batters in 5,386 innings pitched.
With files from the Associated Press