Source: Brian McNamee reveals more info on Roger Clemens to investigators

BY TERI THOMPSON AND MICHAEL O'KEEFFE
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITERS
Saturday, January 12th 2008, 10:28 PM

When Brian McNamee answered questions from federal investigators last year, he didn't volunteer a lot beyond what he was asked. Now, say sources close to Roger Clemens' former trainer, McNamee is providing additional information to investigators as they prepare for a congressional hearing on Feb. 13. "Brian's position is, 'Let's deal with the truth,'" said Earl Ward, McNamee's attorney. "That's his position."

According to a source close to the trainer who says he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone, McNamee answered questions from the government and former Sen. George Mitchell's office truthfully, but "he tried not to hurt Roger" in the process. Now that Clemens has sued him for defamation and has mounted a ferocious attack on McNamee, "stuff is pouring out of him." According to Ward, "Brian knows a lot about Roger's moral character and knows a lot about his extracurricular activities. ... There's a lot that he could say to damage Roger's reputation, but we plan on taking the high road. ... If some of this stuff were to come out, Roger Clemens would look very, very, very bad."

McNamee will tell Congress more about his knowledge of Clemens' use of performance-enhancing drugs, says Ward, including his belief that Clemens was treated for an abscess on his buttocks in 1998, around the time McNamee says he began injecting Clemens. According to a source, McNamee didn't initially tell federal investigators about the abscess but says he is now "willing to talk about it with Congress."

Congressional staffers are believed to be preparing questions about medical issues Clemens may have faced, including the types of injections he says he received. Clemens has denied being injected with steroids or human growth hormone, but says McNamee injected him with lidocaine and B-12. Lidocaine is often given in conjunction with steroid injections, according to a medical source familiar with the information Congress has been provided, and is not generally administered by a non-medical professional. "I have never, ever in my entire career heard of a personal trainer giving someone a lidocaine injection," the source says. Ward said McNamee still has not been served with the defamation lawsuit Clemens filed against him last week.

CLEMENS OATH HEDGE? Meanwhile, ESPN.com reported that Rusty Hardin, Clemens' lawyer, has made the first move toward backing off his adamant claims that Clemens would go to Congress and testify under oath that he did not take steroids or human growth hormone, as McNamee has claimed he did. According to the Web site, Hardin is waffling on whether Clemens will answer questions in a deposition by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee before the Feb. 13 hearing before the committee, saying it might interfere with Clemens' defamation lawsuit against McNamee. The report also said that Hardin may not turn over a taped conversation between McNamee and two investigators from Hardin's office recorded on Dec. 12, the day before the Mitchell Report was released. The Daily News first reported the existence of the tape and the claims by McNamee's lawyer, Earl Ward, that it should be made public. McNamee has said the investigators tried to get him to recant his claims about Clemens, Ward told The News last week.

Richard Emery, a libel specialist who is also representing McNamee, told The News after the lawsuit was filed a week ago that he was astounded that Clemens went forward with litigation and that avoidance of testimony before Congress was likely a big reason why.

"It's an obvious ploy to deter Clemens from not going to Washington," Emery said then. "This has to do with the fear of Clemens going before Congress under oath. I don't consider this lawsuit a major threat. I'm sure we can get it dismissed."

News source：http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2008/01/12/2008-01-12_source_brian_mcnamee_reveals_more_info_o.html