(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-08 09:11

HOUSTON -- Pitcher Roger Clemens said on Monday he will appear before a US congressional committee next week to deny charges he used steroids and human growth hormone to further his baseball career.

Roger Clemens, left, works with former trainer Brian McNamee in February 2006. [Agencies]

"I'm going to cooperate, and I'm going to tell the truth," Clemens told a news conference in his hometown of Houston.

The testimony of Clemens and other players is scheduled for January 16 in Washington, D.C., according to Joe Householder, a spokesman for Clemens' lawyer, Rusty Hardin.

In response to questions at the Houston news conference, Clemens, 45, angrily repeated the same denials he issued through his lawyer and in an appearance on CBS' "60 Minutes" television show on Sunday night.

He said he is proud of his career and succeeded through hard work. "I defy anybody to say I did it by cheating or taking shortcuts," he said.

At the news conference, Hardin played a tape recording of a 17-minute telephone conversation Clemens had last week with trainer Brian McNamee, his accuser in the report by former Sen. George Mitchell for Major League Baseball.

Hardin said McNamee requested the conversation, and Clemens consented because he was concerned about McNamee's son, who is ill.

On the tape, McNamee is heard to express sorrow about all the pain caused by his comments in the report, talks about his son's illness and the financial difficulties he faces, and he repeatedly asks Clemens, "What do you want me to do?"

"I'm just trying to find out why you would tell guys that I used steroids," Clemens said at one point.

McNamee did not respond directly but said, "I did what I thought was right... I had no other choice." He also said, "I'd also like to not go to jail."

Hardin said neither he nor Clemens was accusing the US government or Mitchell of doing anything improper.

But Hardin said it appeared "McNamee was trying to set him up" for accusations of witness-tampering, and the lawyer said he advised Clemens not to appear to be offering any quid pro quo to get McNamee to change his testimony.

Hardin said that is why Clemens would only say, "You just need to come out and tell the truth ... I didn't do this, Mac."

Hardin pointed out that during the phone call McNamee did not dispute Clemens' denials.

The telephone conversation was the subject of an article in a New York newspaper, and it appears McNamee or someone associated with him leaked the tape recording. Hardin said nobody associated with Clemens did.