By Daniel Trotta
Oct 7 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he would award former baseball pitcher Roger Clemens the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor awarded by the president.
Clemens, a friend of Trump who has golfed with the president, is one of the greatest pitchers in the history of Major League Baseball, but sportswriters have not elected him into the Hall of Fame because of his suspected use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Clemens has denied using performance-enhancing drugs and was acquitted at trial on charges of lying to Congress about the subject.
Trump’s medal announcement came during a political rally in Texas. Clemens, who played college and professional baseball in Texas, had earlier introduced Trump at the rally.
Trump questioned why Clemens was denied the baseball honor and said he would compensate by offering him the medal.
“Well I’m stunned, number one,” Clemens said after Trump called him back on stage, adding that if he was going to get this award, he would want to get it from Trump.
The president has broad discretion to award the medal, which has no formal nomination process or fixed presentation ceremony.
Clemens, who runs a charitable foundation, is known mostly for his accomplishments on the pitching mound, having won the Cy Young Award as the best pitcher in his league seven times — more than any other player.
US prosecutors brought a criminal case against Clemens stemming from his testimony before a congressional committee that was investigating the use of steroids, human growth hormones and other performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.
A baseball investigation headed by former US Senator George Mitchell cited testimony from a former trainer who said he injected Clemens with steroids and human growth hormones. Clemens has consistently denied those allegations.
A federal grand jury indicted Clemens on two counts of perjury, three counts of making false statements and one count of obstruction of Congress stemming from his 2008 testimony.
After his first trial ended in a mistrial when a judge found prosecutors introduced inadmissible evidence, a jury acquitted him on all six counts in a second trial.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad, California; editing by Donna Bryson and Christian Schmollinger)
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