Trainer reportedly provides physical evidence against Clemens
Brian McNamee is said to have given federal investigators items that he kept from earlier seasons that could link the pitcher to drug use. Clemens' lawyer accuses the trainer of deception.
Roger Clemens' former trainer has given physical evidence to federal investigators that will confirm the pitcher used performance-enhancing drugs, the trainer's attorneys said today.
The New York Daily News, in a report on its website, said it was told by an anonymous source that the evidence includes vials with traces of steroids and human growth hormone, blood-stained syringes and gauze pads that may contain the seven-time Cy Young Award winner's DNA.
The trainer, Brian McNamee, kept the evidence from the 2000 and 2001 seasons out of fear Clemens would deny use of the drugs if the issue was ever investigated, the Daily News reported.
McNamee attorney Richard Emery told the Los Angeles Times this afternoon that the one-time strength and conditioning coach of the Toronto Blue Jays and New York Yankees preserved the evidence because, as "a former police officer," he knew it was important to do so.
Emery told The Times that the physical evidence, which he declined to describe, was given to the U.S. Justice Department's investigators in San Francisco "some time ago." The attorney said McNamee will provide Congress "descriptive evidence" of what he gave the federal law enforcement officials.
The evidence has been sent to a lab for testing of drugs and blood, the Daily News reported. Depending on the results, prosecutors could then seek a DNA sample from Clemens.
Lanny Breuer, an attorney for Clemens, attacked McNamee and accused him of manufacturing evidence.
"Brian McNamee is obviously a troubled man who is obsessed with doing everything possible to destroy Roger Clemens," Breuer said in a statement. " . . . He lied to Senator Mitchell, he lied to the federal government, and now he apparently has manufactured evidence.
"He has changed his story repeatedly on this matter. ... He now claims he kept blood, gauze, and needles from Roger Clemens for seven years. It defies all sensibility. It is just not credible -- who in their right mind does such a thing?
"As Roger has said under oath to Congress and to the American public, at no time did he take steroids or growth hormone. Despite the desperate smears of Brian McNamee, Roger is looking forward to testifying before Congress next week to set the record straight. He will not waver, nor will he shrink from this because he is telling the truth."
