Roger Clemens Hearing: Live Blog

You can find Part 2 of the Live Blog here.

12:58 - And with that they take a break. I'm out of here to cleanse myself after watching our Congress at work for the last three hours. Stick around the FanHouse though because we'll keep covering absolutely everything that comes up.

12:54 - Rep. Norton (D-DC) with the line of the day, dripping with sarcasm after asking why Clemens would keep working with someone who injected his wife with HGH and assorted other things he did. "Mr. Clemens, I'm sure you're going to heaven." That's gold.

12:50 - Waxman is back on the mic, yo, and is asking questions about the boardshorted nanny of yore. After repeated requests to Clemens and his staff to speak to the nanny, the committee finally did on Monday. It was worth the wait.

The nanny was at the party, so was Debbie Clemens and they both stayed overnight at Canseco's house. She told the committee that Rocket was there as well.

Then, she told the committee that Clemens & Co. asked her to come over on Sunday after a long time without any communication with them. She said she told Clemens she didn't remember a party at Canseco's house and Clemens told her that she didn't remember it because he wasn't there.

Waxman challenged Clemens about why they would have her come to his house on Sunday before forwarding her name to the committee, which brings attorney Rusty Hardin out of his seat to yell at Waxman. As Waxman says, there's nothing more here than the appearance of impropriety but that's as damning as anything that's happened to Clemens to this point in time.

They've made his alleged presence at the BBQ a key part of this proceeding so the idea that he was trying to influence what she told the committee is very hurtful to Clemens.

12:40 - Breaking from the norm, Rep. Clay (D-MO) asks Clemens what he should tell his sons. It's a chance to reiterate that he did everything absolutely the right way. He was raised by strong women, ran home from high school (even in the rain!), lost a sister-in-law to murder because of drugs and won't have his spirit broken by anyone.

"You can tell your boys I did it the right way and I worked my butt off to do it." There's your Rafael Palmeiro moment if things don't go Rocket's way.

Then Clay asks what uniform he'll wear into the Hall of Fame. Charming. He's really doing the House of Representatives proud with that.

12:36 - Souder doesn't really ask a question (airtime, baby!) but compares McNamee to a snitch who turned over evidence on Clemens because he's pissed about the taped phone conversation. And then he checks his notes and remembers the children. But mostly he, rightly, excoriates baseball from the top down for the way they haven't handled the problem of steroids at all and renews a call for more governement oversight.

12:31 - Rep Souder (R-IN) finally brings up that its a travesty that Pettitte isn't there while a wide camera shot shows that all the Reps who already spoke have left the premises. No travesty there, they've gotten their face time. Why stick around for this important bit of government business.

12:27 - And so it does. She hammers him for claiming that he had no idea Mitchell wanted to talk to him, when he told 60 Minutes he was told by his reps not to speak to him. Included is the ridiculous assertion that if he knew Mitchell wanted to talk to him about baseball and steroids he would have been there. What did he think it was about? Earmarks for the good people of Maine? The history of the Irish peace process?

12:23 - Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) starts off by thanking Clemens for the pennants he brought New York City and, of course, helping out the children. I smell a hammer about to drop.

12:22 - Rep. John Mica (R-FL) is asking about the colors of different kinds of steroids but I'm more than a little distracted by the massive pinky ring he's wearing on his right hand. Give McNamee that ring and a velour track suit and we've got the makings of Donnie Brasco 2.

12:17 - Rep. Kanjorski (D-PA) takes us back to the slammingest BBQ in history while asking Charles P. Scheeler, an aide to Sen. Mitchell, why there wasn't a mention of Clemens allegedly not being there in the Mitchell Report. Despite interviewing Canseco, they never asked him to corroborate Clemens's attendance. It's all a big waste of time although I giggled when Kanjorski pronounced Canseco as Conseco. Hey, it's been a long haul, I'll take my laughs when I get 'em.

12:09 - McNamee on why he injected players with illegal drugs - "I just accepted it as the norm and part of the culture of baseball."

12:05 - In a moment after a golf announcers heart, Rep. Davis calls Rep. Lynch asking Clemens a medical question, "a new definition of Lynching." You have the wit of Oscar Wilde, good sir.

12:02 - Just as an aside, but the questioning has gone totally blue state/red state to this point. Cummings, Tierney and Lynch are all Democrats and all roasted Clemens while Davis and Burton, the Republicans, grilled McNamee. Not sure what any of it means to you, just found it notable.

11:59 - Lynch acts a long-winded question (airtime, baby!) about the abcess caused by injections and whether it was caused by B12 shots or Winstrol, a steroid. Clemens's attorney tries to answer, which is odd because it isn't allowed and he hasn't been sworn in by the committee. Not sure why he'd try to do that unless it was something they didn't want Clemens to say under oath.

11:56 - Things I never needed to hear - "Palpable mass on Mr. Clemens's buttocks."

11:54 - Bad news for Rocket, another Representative from the Commonwealth, Stephen Lynch this time.

11:51 - Burton tears McNamee apart, pointing out numerous times he lied to reporters about giving PED's to Clemens and calls Clemens a titan of baseball who is being tried by the media. He's right, of course, Clemens will always be tainted by the brush of steroids even if there's never a smoking gun beyond McNamee. He's also probably got a couple of newly signed baseballs in the Rayburn Office Building.

11:47 - Burton, for all of his posturing and proselytizing, undermined a good bit of McNamee's "I just want to set the record straight" stance. He didn't tell any investigators that he had the physical evidence of drug use. Even if he was ambivalent about testifying against Clemens, he had to know that was a key to his credibility.

11:44 - Rep. Dan Burton steps up and asks McNamee about why he kept the syringes and gauze pads. McNamee reiterates it was because he didn't want to be left as the fall guy. Burton reads from his deposition, in which McNamee said his cop instincts made him distrust Clemens to a degree. He asks "Why in the world would you work for someone who was unethical?"

Yes, a United States Congressman was wondering why someone would continue to work with unethical people.
11:40 - Tierney really doing a number on Clemens about his statements about what he knew about HGH. His time's up before he's quite done but I do believe he may dance a jig on the desk while the Dropkick Murphys play in the chamber.

11:38 - Clemens is stumbling all over the place trying to clear up why he said one thing about discussing HGH and then another. It should be noted that Rep. Tierney is from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and that his accent got much stronger when he started questioning Clemens. Bad memories, Congressman?

11:35 - Tierney walks Clemens through his testimony about discussions of HGH with McNamee which includes his admission that McNamee injected his wife with HGH. She's staring daggers through her man right now. Conversations about HGH with McNamee followed which creates a little problem for Clemens about the truthfulness of his earlier testimony.

11:31 - Rep. Tierney - "My questions are gonna be a little bit about who's telling the truth here." Can't we hear more about board shorts and barbecues?

11:30: McNamee - "The first time I heard of Roger Clemens taking B12 was on 60 Minutes."

11:26 - McNamee is sticking with the story that he saw Clemens at the most important BBQ that ever was and says he remembers a conversation with Clemens about how great the party would have been if there wasn't a game that night. "All we had was sandwiches and iced tea, but Jose had a really nice house." McNamee likes a good house party. He also, if I may read between the lines, liked the way an alleged Clemens nanny looked in a bikini and board shorts. That's probably the first mention of board shorts on the Congressional record, by the way.

11:23 - After some meaningless discussion of Mike Stanton, we move on to the fateful "Canseco Barbecue," which will go down with the Yalta Conference as one of the most meaningful events in the history of our fine land.

Jose Canseco remembers that Roger Clemens wasn't there because he was disappointed that he couldn't introduce his high school baseball coach to the Rocket. First Debbie Clemens and Laura Pettitte and now Canseco gets hurt by this. Remember the children!

11:18 - Davis moves onto the taped phone call between Clemens and McNamee. He asks why he wasn't more clear that he was telling the truth when Clemens asked why he was doing this. McNamee says that he said he wasn't sure who else was listening and that, in his jargon, he did tell the truth.

Davis treated the phone call like it was something other than an attempt to bully McNamee into contradicting himself, which he didn't do.

11:15 - Now Rep. Tom Davis is questioning McNamee. He asks him about the inconsistencies in the number of times he injected each player. McNamee's answer -- he didn't keep careful track at the time because he was just doing it when they asked for it -- isn't great but it does sound honest.

11:12 - Back to Debbie Clemens, the most juiced up wife on the circuit. Clemens doesn't remember telling Pettitte anything about his wife using HGH and doesn't remember anything other than her reading a USA Today article about HGH sometime in the past. Laura Pettitte steps back up and says Andy told her about this conversation as well.

11:09 - Now Andy's wife gets dragged into the mix. She said, in a deposition, that Pettitte told her that the Rocket told him that he used HGH. Wow, marry a ballplayer for their fame and money and end up as pawns in a Congressional hearing.

Clemens stammers out another unconvincing answer about why Pettitte would tell his wife that if it never happened.

Pettitte really, really needed to be here today.

11:06 - Clemens looks absolutely dumbfounded when asked to say why Pettitte would say he did HGH when he didn't after he called him a close friend and very honest person. He relates a story about when the Jason Grimsley allegations came down and this is interesting. Pettitte, described as looking at him as if he's seen a ghost, asks him what he's going to do about it and Clemens says he's going to deny it.

Clemens says that should have cleared up his misconceptions but, then, why would Pettitte be looking at him as if he'd seen a ghost. I take that as a scared look that says, uh-oh we're screwed.

11:03 - Clemens avoids calling Pettitte a liar again and says that he believes Pettitte "misheard" a statement. Clemens claims that he was watching a TV show about elderly men taking HGH and recovering their quality of life. Pettitte should really be here right now and his absence will be a major black hole in the final reckoning of these hearings.

11:00 - Clemens agrees with a statement calling Pettitte a "very honest fellow" and then says that he's lying about saying that Clemens told him he used HGH. Cummings relays how torn up Pettitte was during his deposition, especially about testifying about Clemens. He then reads from Pettitte's statement, "I have to tell you all the truth. And one day, I have to give an account to God, and not to nobody else, about what I've done in my life. And that why I've shared with y'all that i would not like to share with y'all."

10:57 - Now it's question time and Rep. Cummings leads off with, of course, a reminder that this is all about the children. Never let it be said that politicians don't take care of the children. He also reminds Clemens that he's under oath. Only one of these reminders actually matters.

10:54 - McNamee says DNA and chemical analysis of the syringes and other assorted goodies he turned over should prove that they came from Clemens. He kept the evidence to avoid being stuck as the only fall guy when the manure hit the fan. That's the cop in him talking, in my opinion, and McNamee sounds like nothing but every New York City cop I've ever come into contact with.

10:52 - McNamee - "I was taught I should acknolwedge my mistakes." That's a pretty sharp contrast to the self-serving statement Clemens put forth. Doesn't mean that Clemens is guilty, just means that he seems to think that it's beneath him to even be brought in front of Congress to answer the charges put forth by a man who was proven credible by the two other players he said he provided with HGH.

10:50 - Now it's McNamee's turn. "I have helped taint our national pastime."

10:47 - He closes by denying ever using steroids and HGH after further putting himself forth as a selfless, prideless human being who has only played baseball to give those of us who watch the game a brief, fleeting thrill.

10:45 - "If I'm guilty of anything, it's of being too trusting of everyone, wanting to see the best in everyone and being too nice to everyone." Also, I give way too much money to charity, donated both my kidneys to orphans and help numerous old ladies across the street. I think he just strained his rotator cuff patting himself on the back.

10:43 - Clemens said he treated McNamee just like everyone else he's ever met in his life, "like family." "I'm not just a ballplayer, I'm a human being." "I played the game because of my love and respect for it." "I've always tried to help anyone who crossed my path and was in need." You're not running for Jeebus, Rog.

10:41 - Now the real fun stuff begins. They just swore in the witnesses and Roger's taking the mic. Hold on tight.

10:39 - Another story about Debbie Clemens's rampant, unabated HGH use. It's starting to look like the entire problem with drugs in baseball is attributable to her and no one else. At least, that's what the Rocket would have us believe.

10:37 - McNamee related another discussion with Clemens about using HGH and, once again, Clemens blamed his wife and said that she was the one using the drugs, not him. Classy move to blame the wife. Jimmy Dugan would be proud.

10:35 - Pettitte then said that Clemens denied saying that and said that he told Pettitte that it was Debbie, his wife, who used HGH and not him. Debbie's there and she's looking a little peeved about it. Roger, for his part, appears to be taking notes. I think a closer look, however, might find that what he's writing is neither printable here nor particularly flattering about Waxman's appearance.

10:34 - "There is also a direct conflict between Mr. Clemens testimony and Mr. Pettitite's. During his deposition, Mr. Pettitie told the committe that in 199 or 2000 Mr. Clemens told me he had taken HGH. During his deposition Mr. Pettite was asked whether he had any doubt about his recollection. and he said quote i mean no, he told me that end quote. Mr. Clemens said this conversation never took place."

10:30 - Clemens repeatedly told the committee that he never talked about HGH about McNamee but then reversed course in later testimony. His account of being injected with lidocaine in a public area, team trainers said that didn't make any sense. Clemens claimed McNamee told him nothing about the Mitchell Report but McNamee called Clemens's representatives eight days before it was released and allowed Clemens's investigators to interview him before the report.

10:28 - Waxman says Clemens is a credible and convincing person and makes reference to his many, many civic works. Then he moves in for the kill. "We found conflicts and inconsistencies in Mr. Clemens's account. During his deposition, he made statements we know are untrue and he made them with the same earnestness that many committee members saw in person when he visited your offices."

10:25 - McNamee on why he didn't tell investigators everything - "I was trying not to hurt the guy. I felt awful for being in the situation I put myself in. There was a feeling of betrayal, I shouldn't have done it but I didn't want to hurt him as bad as I could."

10:20 - McNamee's credibility will be bolstered by Knoblauch and Pettitte, according to Waxman. It will be hurt because he lied to police officers investigating a sexual assault case in Florida and it will be hurt because he didn't tell federal prosecutors everything he knew about drug use by Knoblauch and Clemens.

10:19 - "If Mr. McNamee is lying, then he has acted inexcusably, and has made Mr. Clemens an innocent victim. If Mr. Clemens isn't telling the truth, then he has acted shamefully, and has smeared Mr. McNamee. I don't think there's anything in between."

10:16 - "Mr. Pettitte's consistent honesty makes him a role model on and off the field."

10:14 - After a brief plea to remember the children, Waxman moves on to Pettitte. Pettitte also backed up McNamee's claim and also told the committee that he used HGH twice in 2004 while recovering from injury. That wasn't in the Report. Says more to come on Pettitte's statement later in the hearing.

10:13 - Knoblauch told committee that McNamee was accurate in the Mitchell Report and that he administered further HGH injections that weren't part of the Report or any other account.

10:11 - Waxman says that baseball isn't the main target of his committee but "If Mitchell Report is to be last word on baseball's past, we believe we had a responsible to investigate a serious claim of inaccuracy." The inaccuracy is narrowly focused on Brian McNamee and the inquiry only dealt with his claims about Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch.

10:09 - A moment of silence for the late Rep. Tom Lantos delays the proceedings a bit but Waxman starts his opening statement. Calls the Mitchell Report "substantive and credible."

10:05 - We're getting underway as Henry Waxman bangs the gavel of truth and justice. So far the most interesting thing has been the massive amount of plumber crack being shown by photographers trying to get the best shot of Roger Clemens that they can.