Clemens has asked the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform to turn over interview summaries, notes and memoranda related to the hearing to address the findings of the Mitchell report on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. During the hearing, Clemens denied that he used such drugs, contradicting the testimony of his former trainer, Brian McNamee. Also included in the subpoena was a request for all correspondence between the committee and 20 people who testified or were interviewed by Congressional investigators, including McNamee and the former players Jose Canesco and Chuck Knoblauch.
Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for the committee, said in a statement that “the committee intends to consult with the House General Counsel’s office and will meet its obligations in this matter.”
The subpoena is one of two that United States District Court Judge Reggie Walton authorized after a hearing last December in which Clemens’s lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said the committee was refusing to cooperate by saying that doing so would violate the separation of powers between the legislative and the judicial branches, according to The Associated Press.
Clemens is also allowed to subpoena information related to the preparation of the Mitchell report. George J. Mitchell, the former senator who created the report at the request of Commissioner Bud Selig, is now the United States special envoy to the Middle East. A spokeswoman for his former law firm, DLA Piper, did not comment on whether the firm had received a subpoena. Hardin had told Walton that lawyers for the Mitchell report were claiming attorney-client and attorney work-product privileges, The A.P. reported. A hearing to review the subpoenas is scheduled for March 14.
Hardin did not return a call for comment.
Clemens has been charged with three counts of making false statements, two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of Congress.
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