More Heat for the Rocket

Roger Clemens may have talked himself into a tight legal squeeze. Congressional officials say the chief reason that the House Oversight Committee has asked Clemens—and four others implicated in baseball's steroid scandal—to appear at a Jan. 16 hearing is that the seven-time Cy Young Award winner publicly challenged the credibility of December's Mitchell Report. "The committee thinks that's worth in vestigating," says a congres sional aide who asked for anonymity when discussing an ongoing official inquiry. Philip Schiliro, the committee's chief of staff, told NEWSWEEK that the members expect the five men to testify voluntarily. But if they refuse, two congressional sources say, the panel may well issue subpoenas. The officials say that witnesses will be asked to testify under oath, emphasizing that they could be prosecuted for lying to Congress if their testimony is later proved to be false.

The committee, chaired by Democratic investigative ace Rep. Henry Waxman, has also asked Clemens's longtime workout buddy Andy Pettitte to testify, as well as another prominent former New York Yankee, Chuck Knoblauch, and two admitted suppliers, Kirk Radomski and Brian McNamee, whose testimony was central to former senator George Mitchell's findings on alleged steroid use by major-league players. Mitchell said McNamee told him that he had personally injected Clemens with steroids. Clemens has ve hemently denied ever using performance-enhancing drugs; in an interview with "60 Minutes" on Sunday, he said that McNamee had injected him with vitamin B12 and lidocaine, a legal painkiller. "Roger is willing to answer questions, including those posed to him under oath," said Clemens's lawyer, Rusty Hardin, in a statement. "We hope to deter mine shortly if schedules and other commitments can accommodate the committee on that date." A lawyer for McNamee could not immediately be reached for comment.

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