Iwakuma 00740314

02/07/2008 7:38 PM ET
Clemens makes case on Capitol Hill
Pitcher meeting one-on-one with representatives
By Bryan Hoch / MLB.com








WASHINGTON -- Roger Clemens returned to Capitol Hill on Thursday, scheduling visits with representatives to further deny his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Two days after providing more than five hours of testimony under oath, Clemens was trailed by a group of reporters as he circulated through the Rayburn House Office Building, walking down long marble hallways as he moved between various areas.

"I had a lot of great meetings and I'm looking forward to Wednesday next week," Clemens said. "I'll see you all then."

His attorney, Rusty Hardin, said that Clemens had returned to Washington from Houston and planned to meet with as many representatives as possible during the visit. The 45-year-old hurler met with 12 congressmen on Thursday.

"The perception out there was so strong, that he did it and was lying, that he's going extra steps to persuade and make people come to realize that he didn't do it," Hardin said. "He's had to take extraordinary measures because the allegations are extraordinary."

Clemens has tentatively scheduled five more meetings with representatives on Friday.

"He met with every member of Congress that was willing to meet with him. And they were wonderful and respectful," said Clemens' attorney, Lanny Breuer. "He answered every single question that was asked of him, and he did it directly and forthrightly."

One of those early meetings with Rep. Elijah Cummings (D - Md.) provided an opportunity for the congressman to convey his concerns to Clemens regarding the use of steroids and performance-enhancing drugs among America's youth.

More important than the recent examination of PED use in professional sports, Cummings said, would be the ripple effect of a recent study that showed that one in 16 children has experimented with performance enhancing drugs, an increase over a similar 1993 study.

"I'm not so much worried about people like (Clemens) who are making millions of dollars," Cummings said. "I'm worried about the children who are trying to emulate the players. ... This is not about anybody showboating. This is about trying to make sure that kids don't feel pressure to have to cheat and violate baseball's rules, and violate the law, to be successful."

Cummings said Clemens seemed "relaxed" but declined to comment when asked if he believed Clemens was telling the truth when he denied using PEDs, saying that he would prefer to allow Clemens to testify at next Wednesday's hearing.

"The purpose of the meetings was not to proselytize these representatives," Hardin said. "They're too sophisticated for that. It is simply to let them know face-to-face what Roger's been saying publicly: He didn't take steroids and he didn't take human growth hormone."

Hardin said that Clemens would be prepared to strike similar candor next week for the committee.

"He won't be answering them in a way that's evasive," Hardin said. "He won't be parsing words. He'll talk to them as people about everything he knows. He'll put out an opening statement and I'm going to tell you now, it's by him and not by his lawyers."

Despite the serious nature of the proceedings, Clemens' celebrity stature did not go unnoticed during the visit. A young man wearing a business suit approached Clemens outside an elevator and asked the 354-game winner to autograph a baseball; Clemens obliged.

In a strange twist, Clemens made his rounds at immediately the same times as his principal accuser, former trainer Brian McNamee, was providing more than seven hours of sworn deposition behind closed doors for the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Joe Householder, a spokesperson for both Clemens and Hardin, said that the timing of Clemens' visit was coincidental and had been planned before it was known McNamee would be testifying on this day.

Likewise, Householder said the visit also had nothing to do with published reports Wednesday that revealed McNamee saved gauze pads and syringes that he claims contain traces of performance-enhancing drugs and Clemens' DNA, supplying them to IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitsky last month in New York.

Clemens' attorneys said they were unflapped by McNamee's latest charges. Hardin characterized McNamee as a "sad, tragic, obsessed man" who has asked Clemens for concert tickets and money, and Breuer dismissed the photographs distributed by McNamee's representation as a "publicity stunt."

"Yesterday was a good day for Roger," Hardin said. "It really reveals this guy for what he is. Rather than be upset about yesterday, I was delighted. ... Find a prosecutor of judge that would ever see this as evidence. This is medical waste."

Hardin said that Clemens would submit to a DNA sample for comparison if requested by a proper government agency.

McNamee's exhibits further underscored yet another bizarre development in a situation that began unfolding with the Dec. 13 release of Sen. George Mitchell's report on the use of PEDs in Major League Baseball, of which nearly nine pages were devoted to Clemens and his alleged use beginning in 1998 with the Toronto Blue Jays.

"In light of somebody who is crazy enough to say he kept syringes for (seven) years, this whole thing is crazy," Hardin said.

Bryan Hoch is a reporter for MLB.com. MLB.com reporter Spencer Fordin contributed. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.