Clemens and McNamee are playing a remarkably risky game. How will it end?
It is difficult to see how their dispute can end without criminal charges against one or the other. In a five-hour deposition before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Tuesday, Clemens apparently made specific denials under oath. McNamee waited until after Clemens’ deposition to disclose for the first time the evidence he has kept since 2001. So Clemens no longer has any room for explanation. If McNamee has been truthful and his evidence works, Clemens will face charges of perjury or contempt of Congress. With Clemens’ sworn testimony in the deposition and McNamee’s evidence in front of it, the Committee will not have to address many of the issues it faced upon discovering that Rafael Palmeiro had lied in his denial of steroid use. Clemens has been aggressive and vehement in refuting allegations that he used steroids. Is that a mistake? Clemens’s attack on the Mitchell report has been relentless and public. He appears to have irritated his friend, Andy Pettitte, and
