Clemens and Hardin said again that the seven-time Cy Young Award winner will testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Jan. 16 and swear again that he never used steroids. Hardin said he will accompany Clemens and that his client will not "hide behind the Fifth Amendment" but will answer every question under oath.
"I can't guarantee he won't be just as upset there as he's been since the allegations have come out," said Hardin. "The one thing I will guarantee is he's going to answer them."
Hardin filed a defamation suit against McNamee Sunday night in Harris County (Texas) just prior to the airing of the Wallace interview. Hardin said the suit had been in the works for more than a week, but that he was waiting to hear back from McNamee and his attorneys and never did.
After playing the tape of his phone call with McNamee and answering questions from reporters, an emotional Clemens walked off the podium, agitated by what he feels is a guilty-until-proven-innocent mentality in the media.
Clemens cited an October 2006 report in the Los Angeles Times that linked him to steroid use but proved to be inaccurate when the affidavit it was based on was unsealed last month. The paper printed a correction and an apology.
"How do I prove a negative? How do I do it?" said Clemens. "We had to go through this torment for a year with the LA Times allegations. All I got at the bottom of the page was, 'We're sorry.' That was in my gut for a year.
"I have to pay a lot of money to defend myself again. Do I just keep shelling out millions? Is that what I do? At the end of the day, all I'll get is an apology and a 'we're sorry.'
"I got another [expletive] question the other day about the Hall of Fame. You think I played my career because I'm worried about the damn Hall of Fame? I could give a rat's ass about that also. If you have a vote . . . you keep your vote. I don't need the Hall of Fame to justify that I put my butt on the line and I worked my tail off.
