To quote Hal Hartley’s Simple Men, “The difference … is I just fucked with the law, he fucked with the government.” Which is the line Roger Clemens crossed when he went under oath on taking illegal steroids and then lied to Congress about it. By challenging the Mitchell Report, Clemens isn’t dealing with a patsy like Bud Selig anymore. As ESPN‘s Mark Fainaru-Wada reports:
(Clemens, above, will be signing this week at the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover Building)
An 18-page memorandum compiled by congressional staff members provides a damning analysis of statements given under oath by Roger Clemens — underscoring a perjury case that could be looming for the seven-time Cy Young winner.
The document, released Wednesday by Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the majority leader of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, lists “seven sets of assertions” Clemens made during his Feb. 5 deposition and Feb. 13 testimony that are “implausible” or “appear to be contradicted by other evidence before the Committee.” (Read the complete memorandum here.)
The memo is described as an analysis created by majority staffers at the request of Waxman, whose committee has played a central role in investigating performance-enhancing drug use by professional and Olympic athletes. Earlier this month, the committee took depositions and heard testimony from, among others, Clemens and his former personal trainer Brian McNamee, who described the pitcher’s extensive use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Clemens has vehemently and repeatedly denied ever taking steroids or human growth hormone, but those denials — and others — are highly suspect, according to the congressional analysis.
The document, at various points, describes Clemens’ statements as “not truthful,” “implausible,” “contradicted” and called “into question.” In one section, the memo suggests there is “evidence that Mr. Clemens affirmatively sought to mislead the Committee.”