Why did the feds not interview Clemens?

How disingenuous can one possibly be? Knowing every detail of the BALCO case, you know that the Feds never "went after Bonds." They gave him immunity!!!!!! You don't give immunity to people you are "going after." They were going after Victor Conte, James Valente, Greg Anderson--a few small steroids suppliers. Bonds was a witness they were all too happy to give a free pass to, as long as he told the truth. He decided to lie instead (or at least they are alleging he did. They still have to prove it in court). Ask for immunity, get it, and then lie anyhow, and you invite a Federal indictment for perjury. The Feds didn't "go after Bonds." Bonds did himself in when he could have skated free.

There was never any reason to "go after Clemens." He wasn't involved in a Federal probe of any sort. McNamee got caught, and faced with an indictment or telling the truth, he chose to tell the truth. He was relatively small and the evidence was weak compared to what they collected in the BALCO case. The fact that he was honest in the face of what he did, saved himself from an indictment. It's kind of proof that the Feds think these are silly cases and actually don't WANT to go after people with their limited resouces--including the smaller suppliers. The only people they have indicted are the ones who have refused to be honest about what they did. In hindsight, maybe Victor Conte could have learned something from Brian McNamee. If he hadn't thought he could out cat-and-mouse the Feds, and called them liars after they had the goods on him, they might have let him walk with probation (they just had way more on him than they did on McNamee, so it's doubtful he was going to get an entirely free pass). And he would have saved his pal Barry Bonds from a perjury indictment, because instead of having to gather evidence (including the witness testimony they have of Bonds allegedly lying) to indict Conte, the whole thing would have just gone away.

The Feds, who gave Barry Bonds immunity, didn't "go after him." They offered him the chance to tell the truth and walk away free, with no chance of them ever indicting him for anything related to lying or steroid use. Victor Conte was the one who seemingly went after Bonds, by forcing him into a grand jury room where the jackass might have lied and gotten himself indicted for perjury. But you crawl in the grass with the Contes of the world, and that's what happens, I guess.

 

No, I actually agree with you. Of course they come after you with threats to compel you to play ball with them (pardon the choice of words). But that doesn't change what I meant. They would have let him walk -- if he was willing to give them the truth about his suppliers. He wasn't the target. The suppliers were. He had his chance to just tell the truth and be done with it. This is inarguable.

As for Clemens, the Feds didn't "go after" him in the sense of they now have him caught on a perjury charge, the way they did Marion Jones and Barry Bonds. But they did go after him, if you look at it the right way. Their policy has been consistently that they don't have the resources to go after steroid users (including Barry Bonds, by the way), so they don't bother. They still wanted to expose Clemens, even if it wasn't in a legal sense. And George Mitchell gave them the opportunity to do it. That is why as part of his plea agreement, McNamee had to sit down with Mitchell and tell the truth, or else risk being treated by them the way Victor Conte (and now Barry Bonds) were. So in a way, they did go after Clemens. They got his name out there. Which pretty much puts his treatment on par with what Bonds got -- until Bonds allegedly lied under oath.

 

My position has always been the same. The Feds learned stuff in the course of busting these small handful of roid dealers. They are not prosecuting baseball players who used steroids. It isn't worth the time, effort or resources. In the case of Barry Bonds, I am sure the Feds weren't all that dismayed when the story got reported. They may not have been prosecuting him for it, but he was exposed. In the case of Clemens, they played a more active role. They aren't going to prosecute Clemens, but they could at least use the Mitchell investigation to expose him with the info they gathered.

And cranberry, your position is fair. I just disagree. This may not be a traditional role of Federal law enforcement, but it is perfectly legal for them to do it this way. And I have no problem with it. George Mitchell is a former prosecutor, senator and a highly-skilled lawyer. He wasn't going to name Roger Clemens and open himself up to a possible slander suit over a stupid mlb steroids investigation unless he had something concrete. It isn't worth the hit to his reputation. So I will bet anything that he was extremely careful about who he named and how he named them.