Pettitte: Clemens Said He Used HGH

Affidavit Reportedly Says Clemens Admitted Human Growth Hormone Use, Then Backtracked

(AP)  Roger Clemens told Yankees teammate Andy Pettitte nearly 10 years ago that he used human growth hormone, Pettitte said in a sworn affidavit to Congress, The Associated Press learned Tuesday.

Pettitte disclosed the conversation to the congressional committee holding Wednesday's hearings on drug use in baseball, a person familiar with the affidavit said. The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the document had not been made public.

According to the person familiar with the affidavit, who said it was signed Friday night, Pettitte also said Clemens backtracked when the subject of HGH came up again in conversation in 2005, before the same House committee held the first hearing on steroids in baseball.

Pettitte said in the affidavit that he asked Clemens in 2005 what he would do if asked by the media about HGH, given his admission years earlier. According to the account told to the AP, the affidavit said Clemens responded by saying Pettitte misunderstood the previous exchange in 1999 or 2000 and that, in fact, Clemens had been talking about HGH use by his wife in the original conversation.

"We don't know what Andy said," Clemens' lead lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said in a statement e-mailed to the AP by his spokesman. "We look forward to hearing tomorrow."

The existence of the affidavit first was reported by The New York Times. The details of its contents was first reported by the AP.

The news came on the eve of Clemens' much-anticipated appearance to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. His former personal trainer, Brian McNamee, is Wednesday's other main witness. McNamee told baseball investigator George Mitchell that he injected Clemens with steroids and HGH at least 16 times from 1998 to 2001. Clemens repeatedly has denied those allegations, including, he said, under oath in a deposition last week.

Pettitte also sat for a deposition at the beginning of last week, and had been scheduled to testify at the hearing. But he asked the committee to allow him to give an affidavit instead of appearing at the hearing, the person familiar with the document said. Pettitte was dropped from the witness list Monday.

McNamee also accused Pettitte of using HGH, and after the Mitchell Report's release in December, Pettitte acknowledged that he did.

On Tuesday, Clemens made the rounds on Capitol Hill one last time, wearing a gray pinstriped suit and squeezing face-to-face meetings into the busy schedules of committee members. He met with five lawmakers over a four-hour span Tuesday, on top of the 19 he saw Thursday and Friday.

"I enjoyed talking with him," said Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif., who said the discussion included baseball stories and personal accounts about the Sept. 11 attacks. "It's always good to meet the person who is in the spotlight. ... I told him, 'This is not a trial."'

But it might very well feel like one when Clemens and McNamee sit at the witness table and - under oath - offer what will surely be contradictory versions as to whether Clemens used steroids and HGH.

"I couldn't tell you who's telling the truth," Watson said.

Before Pettitte's affidavit came to light, Clemens got some help in his public relations push from a different ex-teammate Tuesday.

"I have never had a conversation with Clemens in which he expressed any interest in using steroids or human growth hormone," Jose Canseco said in a sworn affidavit, dated Jan. 22, that was submitted to the committee. "Clemens has never asked me to give him steroids or human growth hormone, and I have never seen Clemens use, possess or ask for steroids or human growth hormone."

In his affidavit, Canseco disputes various statements of McNamee's in the Mitchell Report. The affidavit also says "neither Senator Mitchell nor anyone working with him" contacted Canseco to attempt to corroborate things McNamee said.

Canseco's book about steroids in baseball, "Juiced," drew Congress' attention in 2005, leading to that year's hearing.

The anticipation of Wednesday's hearing rivals - if not surpasses - that of the hubbub before March 17, 2005, when Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro testified before the same committee in the same wood-paneled House hearing room. McGwire avoided answering questions about steroid use that day by repeatedly saying "I'm not here to talk about the past" - and his reputation has shown no signs of recovery.

"I think Roger's fully prepared to testify fully and truthfully," Hardin said. "He IS here to talk about the past."

McNamee has kept a low profile in the buildup to the hearing. He gave a closed-door deposition under oath last week, two days after Clemens did, and has been waiting until the hearing itself to retell his story.

Clemens didn't have much to say Tuesday as he walked the hallways from appointment to appointment. He said he was getting a chance to meet some "interesting people," and he waved appreciatively when two bystanders yelled: "We love you, Rocket!"

In a late addition to its case, Clemens' camp planned to submit to the committee on Wednesday a letter from a Baylor College of Medicine professor who examined medical records supplied by Hardin's office. The physician, Dr. Bert O'Malley, wrote that the records, which covered Clemens' time with four baseball clubs from April 1995 to August 2007, were "devoid of suspicious indications" of steroid use.

Although some congressmen have emphasized the hearing is not solely about Clemens or even baseball - concern about steroids and substance abuse among young people is the oft-stated mission - the focus on the 45-year-old pitcher became more apparent after several other witnesses were scratched. Like Pettitte, former Clemens teammate Chuck Knoblauch and convicted steroids distributor Kirk Radomski were dropped Monday.

[zachery0405]

When did Congress become the judicial system of the U.S. along with the legislative body? The last time I looked, there were THREE main governing bodies mentioned in the Constitution, not two. Also, when did drugs in baseball become a matter of national security that we needed Congressional hearings? So in November, are we voting for the President, the 101st senator, and the Supreme Court Chief Justice all in one person?
I heard on the radio one of the Congressman telling Mr. Mcnamee that he was lying. How hypocritical, a politician calling someone else a liar.
If the players in the mentioned in the Mitchell Report did use HGH or other steroids, or lied to federal investigators, let the MLB and the DEA/FBI and the courts take care of the problem, not the center of our government. Now congress wants to meet with the NFL on one team spying on the others. Are the New England Patriots better at spying than the CIA? How about separation of Church, sports, and State. No wonder our education and health care systems are in shambles compared to the rest of the industrialized world, our law makers care more about a handful of professional athletes than that of the Americans suffering on the streets, the ones who can%u2019t make their house payment because mortgage companies can/should be compared to loan sharks, and the illegal immigration issue, along with other things concerning the safety, security, and welfare of our nation.

[jersupporter]

Doesn''''t Roger Clements realize that once he tells the truth we can win the war in Iraq, fix New Orleans and clean up the mortgage crisis? Posted by rushlimpdrug
-------------------------------
What is to fix in New Orleans? Please see local and state reps for that fiasco. NOLA residents rob, steal and look for handouts.

[jersupporter]

I always knew the Yankees were cheaters. Take away their championships and put an asteriks next to their name.

[uradufuss]

Yes, it certainly LOOKS like Roger Clemens is toast; but after all of the lobbying he did last week, who knows? The way that out Congress works today, you just never know. Baseballs are signed, money changes hands under the table --and the truth is lost somewhere in between there.

Clemens need to do hard time. You don''t have a body and can throw a fastball at his age without chemical dependency. He has lied repeatedly. Like McQuire before him, no speeches for big checks in his future.

[stupidrules3]

I have contacted my senators to let them know I am disgusted that they are wasting their time investigating this farce. One of them actually replied. The other, has yet to reply to any e-mail I have ever sent (at least 10) on several subjects ranging from the mortgage crisis, the tax code, illegal immigration, etc. Of course, I realize that the fact they replied does not mean they will actually consider the opinions of the people who put them there to begin with. After all, they are senators and we are all just poor ignorant citizens.

[rushlimpdrug]

Doesn''t Roger Clements realize that once he tells the truth we can win the war in Iraq, fix New Orleans and clean up the mortgage crisis?

Congress know that all the ills of the world hing on Roger telling the truth.

Please Roger tell the truth and save the world.

[gce65]

Clemens juiced! He bent over and took it (a big needle) in the behind! They''ve already got the testimony of others. They''re just giving ol'' Rog'' enough rope to hang himself with tomorrow.

[jdubs63]

ALL BS AS FAR AS I AM CONCERNED...........

[irliberal]

Lets see.

Team 1: A bunch of adult men I don''t know who abuse drugs playing against another team in a game called baseball.

Team 2: A bunch of adult men I don''t know who abuse drugs playing against another team in a game called baseball.

My only interest in this is that it appears to be a drain on my tax dollar. Congress is involving themselves in this idiocy because...?

[slim1h2o]

Stop waisting our time and money on these scums, that has ruined the game of Baseball!

It''s only a kids game anyways.

[fstop100]

Our tax doallrs hard at work. All Congress had to do was tell MLB to clean up their act.