name was mentioned 82 times in the Mitchell Report on steroid use in baseball. In the report, McNamee stated that during the 1998, 2000, and 2001 baseball seasons, he injected Clemens with Winstrol. Clemens's attorney Rusty Hardin denied the claims, calling McNamee "a troubled and unreliable witness" who has changed his story five times in an attempt to avoid criminal prosecution. He noted that Clemens has never tested positive in a steroid test. Former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, who prepared the report, stated that he relayed the allegations to each athlete implicated in the report and gave them a chance to respond before his findings were published. On January 6, 2008, Clemens went on 60 Minutes to address the allegations. He told Mike Wallace that his longevity in baseball was due to "hard work" rather than illegal substances and denied all of McNamee's assertions that he injected Clemens with steroids, saying it "never happened". On January 7, Clemens filed a defamation lawsuit against McNamee, claiming that the former trainer lied after being threatened with prosecution. McNamee's attorneys argued that he was compelled to cooperate by federal officials and so his statements were protected. A federal judge agreed, throwing out all claims related to McNamee's statements to investigators on February 13, 2009, but allowing the case to proceed on statements McNamee made about Clemens to Pettitte. On February 13, 2008, Clemens appeared before a Congressional committee, along with Brian McNamee and swore under oath that he did not take steroids, that he did not discuss HGH with McNamee, that he did not attend a party at José Canseco's where steroids were the topic of conversation, that he was only injected with B-12 and lidocaine and that he never told Pettitte he had taken HGH. This last point was in contradiction to testimony Pettitte had given under oath on February 4, 2008, wherein Pettitte said he repeated to McNamee a conversation Pettitte had with Clemens. During this conversation, Pettitte said Clemens had told him that McNamee had injected Clemens with human growth hormone. Pettitte said McNamee reacted angrily, saying that Clemens "shouldn't have done that."<ref name=tj>Quinn, T.J. "In court of public opinion, a Clemens verdict: Game over." ESPN.com, December 12, 2008. Retrieved November 6, 2017.</ref> The bipartisan House committee in front of which Clemens appeared, citing seven apparent inconsistencies in Clemens's testimony, recommended that the Justice Department investigate whether Clemens lied under