Roger Clemens
Brian McNamee
SEE RELATED:
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What intrigued me most about the conversation is that the two men seemed to dance around the issue of who was telling the truth. Neither man directly accused the other of lying.\
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During the conversation, McNamee did most of the talking, offering apologies for any pain he might have caused Clemens and his family. He repeatedly complimented Clemens and hinted that he was pressured by federal prosecutors into testifying before investigators working with former senator George Mitchell. But he never told Clemens that he lied to investigators, nor did he call Clemens a liar.\
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Time and time again, McNamee asked Clemens, “What do you want me to do?”\
Each time, Clemens responded by saying “I just want the truth out there,” or a similar phrase. At no point did Clemens respond by specifically asking McNamee to retract his allegation. The closest he came was when he said, “For the life of me, I’m trying to find out why you tell guys why I would use steroids. I need someone to tell the truth, Mac. It’s ridiculous.”\
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It’s clear that Clemens was told by Hardin to say as little as possible to McNamee. Hardin hinted to reporters that McNamee’s constant question, “what do you want me to do” could have been an attempt to trap Clemens into saying something that later would be seen as witness tampering. \
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Clemens today said he would definitely testify on Jan. 16 before the House Oversight Committee, which is looking into the allegations appearing in baseball’s Mitchell Report. However, Hardin said he has advised Clemens against taking a lie detector test, citing his belief that they are often unreliable.
