Roger Clemens, the New York Yankees’ star pitcher, had barely taken his seat Wednesday before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee when Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) stunned an already tense hearing into near silence.

Clemens’s former teammate, Andy Pettitte, told investigators under oath that the seven-time Cy Young Award winner admitted using human growth hormone (HGH).

Clemens again denied using banned drugs, and told lawmakers that Pettitte “misremembers” their conversation.

Waxman, leading the second committee hearing looking for answers raised by former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell (D-Maine) in the report bearing his name, did not seem entirely convinced.

“Someone isn’t telling the truth,” said Waxman in his opening statement in a hearing that lasted most of the day.
Clemens saw the well-publicized hearing as an opportunity to clear his name.

“I appreciate the opportunity to tell this committee and the public — under oath — what I have been saying all along: I have never used steroids, human growth hormone or any other type of illegal performance-enhancing drugs,” the Yankees pitcher said in his opening remarks.

Yet lawmakers sought to poke holes in Clemens’s testimony, contrasting his statements with depositions he and Pettitte previously gave to the committee. In addition, McNamee — separated from his former client by Charlie Scheeler, a partner at DLA Piper who helped write Mitchell’s report — came under heavy questioning from members who also found contradictions in his story.

The inquiries often took on a partisan bent, with Democrats providing the most damaging evidence against Clemens and Republicans hammering away at McNamee. Like the pitcher, the ex-trainer stuck to his story and said he injected Clemens several times with steroids and HGH.

“I am not proud of what I have done, and I am not proud to testify against a man I once admired,” said McNamee, who sometimes stuttered and mumbled in answering lawmakers’ questions.

Dozens of photographers snapped away as Clemens sat quietly. Additional TV cameramen filed into the hearing room to record the pitcher’s and his former trainer’s swearing-in before the panel. Waxman asked for a moment of silence in honor of the late Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and then moved straight to his statement.

Just as the noise began to pick up and before Clemens had a chance to answer to the charges, Waxman laid out a compelling case against him in the opening statement by citing Pettitte’s deposition.

Pettitte told the committee staff that Clemens discussed HGH use with him twice — once in 1999 at Clemens’s home in Memorial, Texas, where Clemens said he had used the drug, and another instance in 2005, when Clemens said his wife had used HGH in 2003.

Pettitte himself has confessed to using HGH as McNamee claimed in Mitchell’s report. In addition, Pettitte said in his deposition that he had injected himself with the drug in 2004, which was not disclosed in Mitchell’s report.

Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) began an aggressive round of questioning, repeatedly reminding Clemens that he was under oath and needed to respond truthfully.

“So you did not tell Mr. Pettitte that you used human growth hormone?” The Maryland Democrat asked.

“I did not,” answered the baseball player. Clemens said he believed his training partner had answered honestly, but that his memory was simply inaccurate.

“He was my friend before this. He will be my friend after this. And, again, I think Andy has misheard,” said Clemens.

Pettitte’s wife, Laura, also submitted a written affidavit stating that her husband had informed her of Clemens’s admissions at the time they occurred.

McNamee also faced heavy questioning from members. Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.) listed several press reports in which the ex-trainer said he had nothing to do with performance-enhancing drugs, then he made McNamee admit publicly that he had lied.

“You know, I’m not going to read any more of this. This is really disgusting,” said Burton. “I don’t know what to believe. I know one thing I don’t believe, and that’s you.”

Ranking member Tom Davis (R-Va.) also cited depositions given to the House panel by medical staff for the Toronto Blue Jays, another club for which Clemens pitched, that contradicted some of McNamee’s allegations in Mitchell’s report.

“None of those people were injecting Roger Clemens with illegal steroids in his butt,” McNamee retorted.

“No, and whether you did or not, I think, remains an open question,” countered Davis.

Tempers were raised at times when Clemens’s lawyers — Lanny Breuer and Rusty Hardin, seated behind the pitcher — would stand and interrupt the proceedings.

At one moment, Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) cited one of Clemens’s medical records and said it could be evidence of a steroid injection. Breuer stood to ask Waxman if he could counsel his client; Waxman responded he could, but reprimanded Breuer for interrupting Lynch’s questioning.

Lynch’s document led to confusion at the dais, and Davis submitted another medical record saying Clemens showed no signs of steroid use. Davis described the Massachusetts Democrat’s inquiry as “literally a new definition of lynching” due to its highly technical nature.

Waxman laid out implications of potential witness-tampering by Clemens himself. The pitcher’s former nanny was contacted by him before she spoke to panel staff on Tuesday this week to discuss Clemens’s attendance at a party held at slugger Jose Canseco’s Miami home in 1998 — Canseco denies Clemens was even there in an affidavit.

“I don’t know if there’s anything improper in this, but I do know it sure raises an appearance of impropriety,” said Waxman.

Both Breuer and Hardin had stood up to defend their client. “Mr. Chairman, with all due respect, this is nothing but innuendo,” said Breuer.

It is unclear where the panel turns next after the day’s events. Earlier in the hearing, Waxman himself said he hoped this will be the panel’s last hearing to examine baseball players’ use of performance-enhancing drugs.

After a day of questioning, the two men hardly settled conflicting accounts — something  Waxman observed in his opening statement.

“They both insist that they are telling the truth, but their accounts couldn’t be more different,” Waxman said.