Federal authorities have decided to indict Roger Clemens on charges of making false statements to Congress about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, according to two people briefed on the matter.
The indictment comes nearly two and half years after Clemens and his former trainer Brian McNamee testified under oath at a hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, directly contradicting each other about whether Clemens had used the banned substances.
The committee held the hearing in February 2008, just two months after McNamee first tied Clemens to the use of the substances in George J. Mitchell’s report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. After Mitchell released the report, Clemens launched an attack on McNamee, saying he made up the allegations.
Federal authorities had McNamee cooperate with them in 2008 to avoid charging him with steroid distribution. Clemens will become the second baseball star from the past decade to be indicted for making false statements about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.
In 2007, federal authorities in San Francisco indicted Barry Bonds, the career home run leader, on charges he perjured himself before a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative. Bonds, who has retired, is scheduled to go on trial next March.
Like Bonds, Clemens had an illustrious baseball career and his entanglement with baseball’s drug issue had jeopardized his chances of going to the Hall of Fame. They are scheduled to appear together on the 2013 ballot.
Clemens last pitched in the major leagues in 2007. He sat out the first part of that season, returned to the Yankees with a dramatic announcement from George Steinbrenner’s box at Yankee Stadium and then, nagged by leg injuries, pitched inconsistently once he was back in uniform.
His final appearance, in a first-round playoff series that October which the Yankees ultimately lost to Cleveland, ended abruptly in the third inning of Game 3, when he exited with an aching hamstring. He was 45 years old and he never pitched in the major leagues again.
The indictment comes nearly two and half years after Clemens and his former trainer Brian McNamee testified under oath at a hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, directly contradicting each other about whether Clemens had used the banned substances.
The committee held the hearing in February 2008, just two months after McNamee first tied Clemens to the use of the substances in George J. Mitchell’s report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. After Mitchell released the report, Clemens launched an attack on McNamee, saying he made up the allegations.
Federal authorities had McNamee cooperate with them in 2008 to avoid charging him with steroid distribution. Clemens will become the second baseball star from the past decade to be indicted for making false statements about his use of performance-enhancing drugs.
In 2007, federal authorities in San Francisco indicted Barry Bonds, the career home run leader, on charges he perjured himself before a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative. Bonds, who has retired, is scheduled to go on trial next March.
Like Bonds, Clemens had an illustrious baseball career and his entanglement with baseball’s drug issue had jeopardized his chances of going to the Hall of Fame. They are scheduled to appear together on the 2013 ballot.
Clemens last pitched in the major leagues in 2007. He sat out the first part of that season, returned to the Yankees with a dramatic announcement from George Steinbrenner’s box at Yankee Stadium and then, nagged by leg injuries, pitched inconsistently once he was back in uniform.
His final appearance, in a first-round playoff series that October which the Yankees ultimately lost to Cleveland, ended abruptly in the third inning of Game 3, when he exited with an aching hamstring. He was 45 years old and he never pitched in the major leagues again.
