Newsday’s Wallace Matthews chats with trainer Brian McNamee’s attorney, Richard Emery. Both gentlemen dodge the most obvious question from last night’s edition of “60 Minutes” —- if Roger Clemens did have access to human growth hormone, why wasn’t he gracious enough to offer some to his enfeebled interviewer, who could surely use a dose?
After watching Clemens waffle his way through 12 minutes with Mike Wallace last night, Emery said, “He definitely called Brian a liar in so many ways, it was tantamount to defamation. But the problem is, it was so unbelievable, it’s going to be hard to prove that Brian was damaged.”
“If what the defendant says is not believable, then in a legal sense, it is hard to show damages,” Emery said. “And nothing Clemens said [last night] was believable. I can’t imagine how any lawyer would allow his client to go on ’60 Minutes’ and lie like that. This interview is going to cause him no end of troubles.”
Emery said Clemens’ denial of any knowledge of drug use by Andy Pettitte — Clemens’ friend, former teammate and workout partner, who has admitted HGH use in the wake of McNamee’s allegations — was likely to be jumped on by the congressional committee that has asked Clemens, Pettitte, McNamee and others to appear at a hearing Jan. 16.
“He’s put Pettitte in a terrible situation,” Emery said. “Now they’re going to have to grill Pettitte and under oath, Pettitte is going to have to rat out.”