updated 4:52 p.m. ET Nov. 25, 2008

NEW YORK - Roger Clemens’ former trainer gave samples of his DNA to federal investigators trying to ascertain whether the star pitcher committed perjury before Congress, two New York newspapers reported.

The request for a DNA sample from trainer Brian McNamee suggests that investigators found readable DNA on the syringes, needles and gauze pads McNamee turned over to federal prosecutors in January, The New York Times and Daily News reported Monday night.

McNamee’s lawyers have said the items, when tested, would link Clemens to the use of performance-enhancing drugs. They claim McNamee used those needles and a gauze pad while injecting Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone.

Investigators must determine whose DNA is on that material if it is going to be important to the probe. It’s not clear whether federal authorities have a sample of DNA from Clemens.

“We’ve always said we’d cooperate, but we’re not going to comment on any aspects of the federal investigation,” Clemens’ lawyer, Rusty Hardin, said Tuesday.

In the Mitchell Report on doping in baseball, McNamee said he injected Clemens more than a dozen times with steroids and HGH in 1998, 2000 and 2001. Clemens has repeatedly denied those accusations, including during testimony before Congress.

Clemens also filed a defamation lawsuit against McNamee.

Citing a pair of unidentified people familiar with the matter, The Times reported on its Web site Monday night and in Tuesday editions that McNamee provided DNA samples to federal investigators.

The Times said the two people familiar with the probe spoke on condition of anonymity because they didn’t want to “jeopardize their access to sensitive information.”

The Daily News reported on its Web site Monday night and in Tuesday editions that FBI agents visited McNamee in New York on Sept. 11 to collect swabs from the inside of his cheek. The Daily News said investigators also took DNA samples from McNamee’s three attorneys: Richard Emery, Earl Ward and Debbie Greenberger.

The lawyers handled the medical waste in question last winter and took photos before giving it to investigators, the Daily News said.

“I’m not saying one way or another whether that happened,” Emery said Tuesday.

Emery also said that Matthew Parrella, who in his role as an assistant U.S. attorney interviewed McNamee, was working on a statement to be submitted by Dec. 18 in Clemens’ defamation suit against McNamee. The trainer’s lawyers say because McNamee did not volunteer information about Clemens but was “coerced” into giving it under threat of prosecution, his statements are “immune from any defamation.”

“They’re preparing a statement,” Emery said. “He has to get permission for that to happen.”

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