Clemens Trades Lawyers Up

Roger Clemens hired powerhouse lawyer, Jackie Chiles Lanny A. Breuer, a top litigator in Washington D.C., according to the New York Times:

Roger Clemens has bolstered his legal team, hiring a powerhouse Washington lawyer, Lanny A. Breuer, who represented former President Bill Clinton during his impeachment hearings as well as numerous corporations that were the subject of Congressional investigations.

Rusty Hardin, Clemens’s Houston lawyer, said late Thursday that he had recruited Breuer to be his client’s “local counsel” in Washington because of his expertise.

Breuer responded to an e-mail message Thursday night and confirmed he had been retained by Clemens. “This is correct,” he wrote. “This just happened.”

Asked to comment on Clemens’s situation, Breuer wrote, “I’m honored to be joining Rusty Hardin in representing one of the greatest pitchers and athletes in history.”

Breuer, a former assistant district attorney in Manhattan, is a partner in the Washington law firm of Covington and Burling and is a co-chairman of its white-collar defense and investigations practice group.

And by "recruited," Hardin meant Clemens told Ol' Rusty to find a lawyer who won't make his client look like an imbecile.

· The latest from Joe Torre on steroid use under his watch:

Joe Torre had no suspicions about Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte using performance-enhancing drugs when they were playing for him with the New York Yankees.

"I didn't see anything that made me suspicious," Torre said Thursday. "But I don't investigate players. I get to know them. If they want to talk, then you're available for them and stuff like that."

· ESPN also reports Brian McNamee is unlikely to receive immunity from Congress.