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United States News Title: Baseball Star Clemens Charged With Perjury In Steroid Testimony (CNN) -- Retired baseball star Roger Clemens says he's looking forward to fighting perjury and other charges brought against him Thursday and again denied he ever used performance-enhancing drugs. A federal grand jury in Washington has charged the seven-time Cy Young winner with perjury, obstruction of Congress and making false statements over his insistence to a House committee that he never used steroids or human growth hormone. "I never took HGH or steroids. And I did not lie to Congress," Clemens said in a statement posted on the website Twitter. "I look forward to challenging the government's accusations, and hope people will keep an open mind until trial. I appreciate all the support I have been getting. I am happy to finally have my day in court." Clemens left baseball in 2007 after playing for the Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Houston Astros and New York Yankees. He was the first pitcher to win seven Cy Young awards, and his nearly 4,672 career strikeouts are the sport's third-highest. He is ninth all-time in wins with 354. The charges stem the longtime pitcher's February 2008 appearance before the House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee. Both Clemens' former trainer, Brian McNamee, and a report by former Sen. George Mitchell stated that Clemens had used banned substances at points in his career. Rep. Henry Waxman, then the committee's chairman, said perjury and false statements "are serious crimes that undermine the ability of Congress to perform its duties." "Whether he committed a crime will be up to the judge and jury," the California Democrat said in a written statement. But he said the investigation, which Waxman and then-ranking Republican Tom Davis requested in 2008, "are important actions to protect the integrity of the Committee's oversight work in this area and to help end the use of steroids and performance enhancing drugs in professional sports." A grand jury in Washington returned the indictment, which states that Clemens "did corruptly endeavor to influence, obstrsuct, and impede" the congressional investigation into the use of steroids by him and other major league players. The three counts of making false statements reflect statements Clemens made about human growth hormone, steroids, and vitamin B12. During the February 2008 hearing, Clemens vehemently denied using performance-enhancing drugs. Steroid use "is totally incompatible with who I am and what I stand for," he told lawmakers, adding, "I cannot in good conscience admit to doing something that I did not do, even if it would be easier to do so." His testimony put him at odds with McNamee as well as one-time Yankees teammate Andy Pettite, who told a league investigation led by Mitchell that Clemens admitted using human growth hormone. A few weeks later, the committee's leaders asked the Justice Department to launch a perjury probe of Clemens. Clemens told investigators Pettite must have "misheard" him, and he accused McNamee of lying "to save his own skin" as federal authorities began probing the use of steroids in major sports. He filed a defamation suit against his ex-trainer in late 2008. Thursday's indictment states that at the time that Clemens made those statements, he knew them to be false. The pitcher also claimed that the shots he did recieve from his trainer were vitamin B12, which is an allowed substance. But the trainer never had access to B12 and never injected him with such supplements, the indictment states. The final two counts of perjury are related to his testimony denying use of human growth hormone and steriods. "Whether it's a member of the Cabinet, a CEO or a professional athlete, if there is evidence that someone has intentionally misled a Congressional investigative committee, they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent possible," said Kurt Bardella, spokesman for California Rep. Darrell Issa. Issa is now the ranking Republican of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "There is no mechanism to justify lying to Congress," Bardella said.
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