Clemens' meeting with Congress postponed

Roger Clemens' meeting with a congressional committee investigating steroids in baseball was pushed back until Feb. 5.

Clemens originally was asked to appear Saturday for a deposition or transcribed interview with staff members from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. That panel has called a Feb. 13 hearing where Clemens and his former personal trainer, Brian McNamee, are among five witnesses slated to appear.

The committee announced a new schedule Thursday of pre-hearing meetings with those witnesses.

Chuck Knoblauch, a former teammate of Clemens' with the New York Yankees, was subpoenaed to appear for a deposition or transcribed interview on Tuesday, although the committee said he has yet to be served.

Andy Pettitte, Clemens' longtime teammate and workout partner, has been asked to appear Jan. 30, with McNamee down for Feb. 7.

The fifth witness, former New York Mets clubhouse employee Kirk Radomski, originally was invited to meet with committee staff on Feb. 1, but his deposition or interview was given Thursday as "TBD" — to be determined.

"The committee changed the dates to accommodate the schedules of the witnesses and lawyers involved," panel chairman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, said in a statement relayed by a staff member.

Lawyers for Clemens and McNamee have said their clients will appear.

Joe Householder, a spokesman for Rusty Hardin, Clemens' primary lawyer, said the pitcher's legal team would defer all comment on scheduling to the committee.

The committee is reviewing transcripts of three conversations in which McNamee participated, The New York Times reported on its Web site Thursday, citing a congressional staff person with direct knowledge of the matter who was granted anonymity because the committee work had not been made public.

According to the newspaper, the transcripts were provided by Clemens' lawyer and include a Dec. 5 telephone call with an employee of Clemens' agent, a Dec. 12 interview with investigators for Clemens' lawyer, and a Jan. 4 telephone call with Clemens.

The committee's ranking minority member, Virginia Republican Tom Davis, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Jan. 15 that the committee had in its possession a Jan. 4 telephone conversation between Clemens and McNamee, secretly recorded at the player's end and played during Clemens' news conference Jan. 7.

The congressman also said at the time the committee was working to get a recording of the conversation between McNamee and investigators who work for Clemens' law firm on Dec. 12, a day before the Mitchell Report was released.

In the Mitchell Report on doping in baseball, McNamee said he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone, accusations the pitcher with the eighth-most wins in major league history has denied repeatedly. Pettitte acknowledged McNamee injected him twice with HGH while the left-hander was recovering from an injury.

McNamee also told Mitchell he acquired HGH from Radomski for Knoblauch in 2001 and injected Knoblauch with HGH.

Radomski pleaded guilty to distributing steroids and laundering money. His sentencing is Feb. 8.