Brian McNamee told congressional lawyers during his deposition on Thursday that he injected Roger Clemens' wife, Debbie, with human growth hormone (HGH), according to a source with knowledge of McNamee's testimony.
McNamee injected Clemens' wife once in her stomach in 2002 in the master bedroom of their Houston estate, sources said. Clemens' wife is a fitness instructor and has a website devoted to the topic.
While Clemens and his wife had discussed her taking HGH, she was reluctant to have a man not her husband inject her in the stomach, according to McNamee, sources said. HGH is traditionally most effective when injected into the stomach.
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Clemens holds more meetings with congressmen
It took several days of discussions for Debbie Clemens to agree to have McNamee inject her, sources said. The Clemens' appeared interested in her experimenting with HGH to prepare for a Sports Illustrated swimsuit photo shoot in which she stood over her husband wearing a bikini, and to further her career, sources said.
Her Web site, www.debbieclemens.com, is peppered with fitness tips designed for women. Her opening message states, "The laws of life and fitness, as I call them, are to plan ahead, be practical and use common sense. Eat healthy; be dedicated to workout, recognizing life's necessities that serve you well."
Roger Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin, released a statement at 5:30 Friday afternoon, but did not directly address whether McNamee injected Debbie Clemens with HGH. He did, however, dispute Roger Clemens' role.
"Now there can be no doubt what kind of person we are dealing with," Hardin said in the statement. "To say that Roger directed this kind of thing is a colossal lie."
Meanwhile, Clemens appeared on Capitol Hill Friday for a second straight day to meet privately with congressmen.
On Thursday, McNamee's lawyers displayed photographs of the syringes, dirty gauze pads, blood and vials of human growth hormone and steroids that they say McNamee kept from when he injected Clemens in 2000 and 2001.
McNamee turned over that evidence to the federal prosecutors Jan. 10 and discussed it with lawyers for Congress Thursday in his deposition.
McNamee allegedly held the items for years in his basement inside a FedEx box. He turned them over to federal investigators three days after Clemens played a recorded telephone conversation between the two at a nationally-televised news conference.
Richard Emery, one McNamee's lawyers, said Thursday that McNamee held the items for so long because he feared Clemens would attempt to harm him. McNamee also predicted a potential public discussion about steroids in baseball.
"If [McNamee] was going to get thrown under the bus by Roger, then he was going to take Roger along," Emery said.
Emery and Earl Ward, another lawyer for McNamee, said the primary reason the photos were released was because McNamee felt betrayed after Clemens last month played the recorded conversation and discussed McNamee's ailing son publicly.
"You can tell the immediate sense of betrayal that Brian had," Emery said.
Emery later said McNamee thought Clemens could not be trusted. His lawyers alleged that McNamee was responsible for holding the vials of steroids and HGH as well as disposing of the needles after they were used by Clemens and other Yankees.
Hardin called the allegations "trash and waste."
But McNamee's legal team believes that the items will prove that Clemens was injected with steroids and human growth hormone.
Clemens spent Thursday and Friday meeting with legislators in Washington. He met with 12 members of Congress on Thursday and was scheduled to meet six members on Friday.
"It is to let them know face-to-face what Roger has said publicly, that he did not take steroids and did not take human growth hormone," Hardin said about the purpose of meeting with congressional leaders.
Hardin said the purpose of the meetings was not to lobby congressional leaders to rally behind Clemens.
Hardin indicated that Clemens would be willing to provide a DNA sample if the federal government asked for one. Clemens has not received that request.
McNamee, Clemens, Chuck Knoblauch, Andy Pettitte and Long Island-based steroid distributor Kirk Radomski will appear before Congress next Wednesday.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/cs-080208-debbie-clemens-hgh,1,5417778.story?track=rss
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