HOUSTON -- Roger Clemens threw two high and hard fastballs at his accuser Monday, filing a lawsuit against his former strength coach in which he contended Brian McNamee made "absolutely false and defamatory" statements claiming he had injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone and then releasing a tape of a secretly recorded telephone call between the two men.
Clemens also said he would testify before Congress next week, setting up a potentially dramatic showdown there, with McNamee expected to sit behind the same witness table and both men expected to testify under oath. Rusty Hardin, the attorney for Clemens, said his client would answer every question even with litigation now pending.
"He's not going to hide behind the 5th Amendment," Hardin said.
Richard Emery, an attorney for McNamee, criticized Clemens and Hardin for replaying a private telephone conversation during a nationally televised news conference.
"It's war now," Emery said.
Earl Ward, another attorney for McNamee, has threatened to file a defamation suit against Clemens.
"No countersuit is coming any time soon," Emery said, "until I believe people believe what Roger is saying."
Clemens' lawsuit portrays McNamee as an unreliable witness, alleging McNamee denied to federal investigators Clemens used steroids and HGH, then changed his story under interrogation. Hardin said Mitchell did not appear to sufficiently establish McNamee's credibility.
Yet Clemens' credibility was called into question on one issue Monday. In a CBS interview that aired Sunday, Clemens said he had no advance warning what the Mitchell Report might say about him.
On Monday, however, Hardin said McNamee had alerted Clemens' agents eight days before the report was released. Hardin said Clemens was told of McNamee's general allegations four days before its release and was told more specifically of them after McNamee met with Hardin's investigators the day before its release.
At that point, however, Hardin said he was uncertain whether Mitchell would include McNamee's allegations -- or any player names, for that matter -- in his report.
After the report was issued, McNamee and Clemens did not speak until Friday, after McNamee sent a text message saying he wanted to talk and that his 10-year-old son was seriously ill. Hardin said the conversation could be taped without McNamee's consent under the law in Texas, where Clemens lives, and New York, where McNamee lives.
