Roger Clemens trial: Jurors hear Clemens's denials; defense seeks to admit unflattering accounts of McNamee For more than two hours Monday, jurors in the perjury trial of former baseball star Roger Clemens listened to him repeatedly deny using steroids in taped interviews with Congressional staffers and testimony to Congress as the man himself sat quietly at the defense table, scribbling on a yellow legal pad. Roger Clemens walks near the federal courthouse in Washington, D.C., April 30, 2012. Yuri Gripas - Reuters Federal prosecutors are trying to establish the legitimacy of the 2008 House hearings that explored whether Clemens used performance-enhancing drugs during his storied 24-year career. The government must prove not only that Clemens lied to Congress when he denied using steroids, but also that his statements were important to the work of Congress. Phil Barnett, the former staff director of the House committee and the government's first witness, said Congress was trying to reconcile a report by former senator George Mitchell that named Clemens and other ballplayers as steroid users with Clemens's public denials. In the taped interview, Clemens was quizzed about his relationship with Brian McNamee, his former strength coach, who is expected to be a key witness for prosecutors. McNamee told Congress that he injected Clemens on several occasions with steroids, but Clemens said the injections were vitamins - not performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens was asked in his deposition with the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform why McNamee, not a team doctor, was injecting him, and whether the shots could have been tainted with steroids. "I have no reason to believe he was doing anything harmful," Clemens said, later describing McNamee as "great." Clemens also described in detail his account of the use of human growth hormone known as HGH by his wife, Debbie, who he said was injected by McNamee in the bedroom of the couple's Houston home. Clemens said he was not at home at the time, and was concerned that McNamee had "drugs on the property." Clemens said he rifled through McNamee's belongings, which the trainer had left behind, but did not find any HGH. "Deb cried about it; she apologized to me about it," Clemens said. It's embarrassing because she thinks she's been pulled into a trap. Clemens's account is at odds with McNamee's story that Clemens was present when McNamee gave his wife the shot. In a separate court filing Monday, Clemens's defense team objected to efforts by the prosecution to keep out information about McNamee's troubled background. Defense attorney Rusty Hardin says in the documents that the unflattering background is relevant because McNamee's "past contains more dirt than a pitcher's mound."