The affidavit of Yankees pitcher Andy Pettitte helps to support the account of Brian McNamee, Roger Clemens’ former trainer, that he gave Clemens injections of banned drugs, according to a ranking member of the congressional committee investigating the use of illegal drugs in baseball.

Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., said in an interview Monday that in an affidavit given to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Pettitte’s account matches McNamee’s in most details, but that in a separate affidavit to the committee, Clemens said both are mistaken.

According to sources, McNamee has told investigators that in the winter of 2002, he, Clemens and Pettitte were working out together at the gym in Clemens’ Houston home. The sources said McNamee claims that during a break in the workout, Pettitte went over to McNamee by himself and asked: “How come you don’t give me the stuff you give Roger?” McNamee supposedly replied, “Because it’s illegal.”

Pettitte admitted that McNamee eventually gave him shots of human growth hormone (HGH), according to the Mitchell Report on the use of steroids in baseball.

Clemens, in his affidavit, said Pettitte is mistaken in thinking that in their conversations about medications, he was referring to steroids or HGH.

McNamee has said he gave Clemens at least 16 injections of steroids or HGH.

Davis said Pettitte is reluctant to testify in public about his dealings with McNamee and his longtime idol Clemens, which is understandable, Davis said.

“We know what (Pettitte) is going to say,” Davis said, adding that Clemens will be confronted with Pettitte’s statement when he testifies and given a chance to respond to it.

According to Davis, Clemens does not attack Pettitte in his deposition, saying his memory is different and that memories can fade over time. A spokesman for Clemens’ lead lawyer, Rusty Hardin, did not return a message.

“I don’t think it makes any difference” whether Pettitte is there, Davis said. Davis said the chairman of the committee, Henry Waxman, D-Calif., also thinks allowing Pettitte to be present only by affidavit is reasonable, and “I’m with the chairman.”

Pettitte’s affidavit also will be part of the public record of the hearings, Davis said.

An attorney for McNamee, Richard Emery, said he had no problem with Pettitte not testifying in public as long as the statement was publicly available and Clemens was confronted with it.

Pettitte’s lawyer, Jay Reisinger, who is in Florida working on arbitration cases for major-league baseball players, did not return multiple messages left on his cell phone.

Originally, Clemens, McNamee, Pettitte and Kirk Radomski, who pleaded guilty to supplying many ballplayers with steroids and was sentenced last week to five years of probation, were scheduled to testify Wednesday at a public hearing in Washington. But Davis said that with Pettitte reluctant and Radomski saying he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against further self-incrimination, only McNamee and Clemens will testify.

Davis also said another witness who had been said to appear before the committee, former Yankee Chuck Knoblauch, also won’t appear. Davis said Knoblauch’s account might not add anything to what is already known.

Radomski never accepted the committee’s invitation to testify, a source familiar with his situation said. Radomski had wanted immunity before he testified, the source said, but he never heard back about his request and never got a subpoena.

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AP-NY-02-11-08 2327EST

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