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Congressman: Pettitte's account backs McNamee

BY JIM BAUMBACH AND ROBERT E. KESSLER | jim.baumbach@newsday.com
and robert.kessler@newsday.com

February 12, 2008

The affidavit of Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte helps to support the account of Brian McNamee, Roger Clemens' former trainer, that he gave Clemens injections of banned drugs, according to a ranking member of the congressional committee investigating the use of illegal drugs in baseball.

Newsday.com first reported the story last night after interviewing Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) yesterday. Davis said that in an affidavit given to the House Oversight Committee, Pettitte's account matches McNamee's in most details, but that in a separate affidavit to the committee, Clemens said both are mistaken.

Sources said McNamee has told investigators that in the winter of 2002, he, Clemens and Pettitte were working out together at the gym in Clemens' Houston home. According to the sources, McNamee says that during a break in the workout, Pettitte went over to McNamee by himself and asked: "How come you don't give me the stuff you give Roger?" McNamee supposedly replied, "Because it's illegal."

Pettitte admitted that McNamee eventually gave him shots of human growth hormone, according to the Mitchell Report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.

In his affidavit, however, Clemens said Pettitte is mistaken in thinking that in their conversations about medications, he was referring to steroids or HGH.

McNamee has said he gave Clemens at least 16 injections of steroids or HGH.

Originally, Clemens, McNamee, Pettitte and Kirk Radomski, who received five years' probation last Friday after pleading guilty to supplying many ballplayers with steroids, were scheduled to testify tomorrow at a public hearing in Washington. But Davis said that with Pettitte reluctant and Radomski saying he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against further self-incrimination, only McNamee and Clemens will testify.

Davis said Pettitte's reluctance to testify in public about his dealings with McNamee and his longtime idol Clemens is understandable. Both the Democrats and the Republicans on the committee agree.

"We know what [Pettitte] is going to say," Davis said, adding that Clemens will be confronted with Pettitte's statement when he testifies and will be given a chance to respond to it.

According to Davis, Clemens does not attack Pettitte in his deposition, saying his memory is different and that memories can fade over time. A spokesman for Clemens' lead lawyer, Rusty Hardin, did not return a message.

"I don't think it makes any difference" whether Pettitte is there, Davis said. Davis said the committee chairman, Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), also thinks allowing Pettitte to be present only by affidavit is reasonable, and "I'm with the chairman."

Pettitte's affidavit also will be part of the public record of the hearings, Davis said.

An attorney for McNamee, Richard Emery, said he has no problem with Pettitte not testifying in public as long as the statement is publicly available and Clemens is confronted with it.

Pettitte's lawyer, Jay Reisinger, who is in Florida working on arbitration cases for major-league players, did not return messages left on his cell phone.

Davis also said another witness who had been asked to appear before the committee, former Yankee Chuck Knoblauch, also won't appear. Davis said Knoblauch's account might not add anything to what already is known.

Radomski never accepted the committee's invitation to testify, a source familiar with his situation said. Radomski had wanted immunity before he testified, the source said, but he never heard back about his request and never got a subpoena.