One of Brian McNamee’s harshest critics at this month’s congressional hearing now believes Roger Clemens lied when he appeared on Capitol Hill.
Rep. Christopher Shays (R-Conn.) blasted McNamee, Clemens’ accuser, during the Feb. 13 hearing held by the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, calling him a “drug dealer.” Yesterday he sent a letter to the Attorney General, supporting the one from the committee leaders calling for an investigation of whether Clemens perjured himself.
“You can’t come to congress and lie like this and commit what I think is perjury,” Shays told The Post. “He made a decision that he was going to go for broke in spite of the fact that he would have to give a lot of contradictory statements.”
Shays met with Clemens in the week before the hearing for 45 minutes. He said Clemens answered his questions with a lot of conviction, but he still came away questioning his truthfulness.
“He said to me he would never take any drug that would harm his body,” Shays said. “It’s clear to me he took some drugs that harmed his body, and it’s hard for me to accept he didn’t know his wife took HGH.”
During the hearing, though, Shays went on the attack on McNamee, as did many of his fellow Republicans. Shays defended his questioning yesterday by saying he thought McNamee was “sleazy,” he didn’t want to cover the same ground with Clemens that other members did and he didn’t feel like piling on Clemens. Shays was one of the final congressmen to ask questions in the hearing.
“I felt like Clemens was on the ground and I had a sword over my head and everyone’s thumbs were pointing down,” Shays said. “I didn’t want to do it. Then I see McNamee standing up as some kind of saint. I wanted him to deal with one member of Congress who thought he was a pretty despicable guy.”
Shays, who was not in favor of the hearing beforehand, came away from it dismayed.
“It was just a sad, sad day for me,” he said. “I felt dirty when I was done.”