The Clemens/McNamee Soap Opera
Chapter 14: The Congressional Lobbying
---Clemens makes personal visits to the congressional members who will allegedly be giving him difficult questions on Wednesday. Questions arise as to the propriety of those visits, and what the hell the congressional members were thinking in taking those meetings. I almost never agree with Phil Mushnik - ever - but he's got a point here.
---Chairman Henry Waxman criticizes Clemens' lawyer for remarks made by Rusty Hardin about IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky. The relevant bits:
"Hardin told The New York Times on Saturday that plans by Novitzky, a special agent for the Internal Revenue Service who has been leading a steroids investigation, to attend the oversight committee's hearing while Clemens testified Wednesday were "unbelievable" and "brazen." He had added, "I can tell you this: If he ever messes with Roger, Roger will eat his lunch." In a letter to Hardin, the committee chairman, Representative Henry A. Waxman, Democrat of California, said his remarks could be interpreted as "an attempt to intimidate a federal law enforcement official in the performance of his official duties." Waxman asked Hardin to clarify his remarks as soon as possible.
Hardin responded to Waxman late Sunday night with a letter saying he regretted the "eat his lunch" remark but that it was Novitzky, not him, who had been trying to intimidate people.
Hmmm. Doesn't sound like Hardin is backing off any.
---What will Andy Petitte testify to? Will he hang Roger Clemens out to dry? Or Brian McNamee? Or neither? And just when the fuck do pitchers and catchers finally report to camps to end the focus on this mess? Oh, soon. Thank G-d.