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Clemens issues denial, grants interview in video
By JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ
Roger Clemens, who has steadfastly refused to take questions from the
media since he was accused of using steroids in the Mitchell Report,
released a video on YouTube.com and his foundation's Web site while
announcing he will grant his first interview on the subject to Mike
Wallace on CBS' 60 Minutes early next year.
On Clemens' video, which lasts almost two minutes, the former Yankees
and Astros pitcher thanks his family and fans while also issuing
another denial.
"I want to say thanks to my family, my friends, people in the community
here at home and really the fans around the country," Clemens said.
"I've been getting comforting emails and phone calls to my foundation
from thousands of people, and that means a lot to me.
"Over the last 15 days or so this has been extremely difficult for my
family, my children, my extended family. I'm holding up better than
they are. I'm almost numb to some of these suggestions that I would
even use steroids."
The video can be found on Roger Clemens Online and YouTube.
In the Mitchell Report, which was released on Dec. 13, Clemens' former
trainer, Brian McNamee, claimed to have injected Clemens with steroids
on multiple occasions. McNamee, who just 15 months ago received hearty
endorsements from Clemens, also accused Clemens' good friend and former
teammate Andy Pettitte of using Human Growth Hormone in the Mitchell
Report.
Pettitte, through a statement from his agent Randy Hendricks, has
confessed to using HGH and admitted that McNamee said the truth about
him in the Mitchell Report. Clemens, through statements released by his
Houston attorney Rusty Hardin or his agent Hendricks, has denied
McNamee's claims.
"And again, it's amazing to me that I'm going to the lengths that I'm
going to have to defend myself to do this," Clemens said in the video.
Clemens also addressed the now infamous Los Angeles Times report that
ran on Oct. 1, 2006. In that report, the Times claimed Clemens and
Pettitte were accused of using performance-enhancing drugs in the
search warrant affidavit former major leaguer Jason Grimsley gave a
federal agent.
That search warrant was unsealed on Thursday by a U.S. Magistrate Judge
Edward C. Voss, who admonished the Times because "at best, the article
is an example of irresponsible reporting. At worst, the 'facts'
reported were manufactured," the federal judge wrote.
In his video, Clemens compares his denials of the L.A. Times report in
2006 to what he's facing in the aftermath of the Mitchell Report.
"I faced this last year when the L.A. times reported that I used
steroids," he said. "I said it was not true then. And now the whole
world knows it's not true now that that's come out.
"It's surfaced again later now with this Mitchell report. And let me be
clear, the answer is no. I did not use steroids or human growth
hormone, and I've never done so.
"I did not provide Brian McNamee with any drugs to inject into my body.
Brian McNamee did not inject steroids or human growth hormones into my
body either when I played in Toronto for the Blue Jays or the New York
Yankees. This report is simply not true."
Clemens vows to address this publicly for the first time on Jan. 6 on
60 Minutes.
"After Christmas I'm going to sit down with Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes
and I'll do an interview," he said. "And he'll ask me a ton of
questions on this subject, and I'll answer them right there in front of
him. And we'll do all of this again.
"I'm angry about it, to be honest with you. It's hurtful to me and my
family, but we're coming upon Christmas now and I have been blessed in
my life. I've been blessed in my career, and I'm very thankful for
those blessings."
jesus.ortiz@chron.com
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