Orioles Star Faces Inquiry For Testimony on Steroids

"If I was going to be drug-tested, I would use Winstrol before I would use something else," said a former bodybuilder who has used steroids and requested anonymity. "When you take it orally, in three weeks you are pretty much guaranteed that it will clear your system."

Davis said the committee will investigate what drug Palmeiro was found to have used, rather than accept the word of newspaper reports.

"We're nowhere near the 'p word,' " Davis said, referring to perjury charges. "But we have an obligation to look at this. If there are inconsistencies that we can't resolve, we may have to refer it" to the Justice Department, which handles federal perjury cases.

Davis said the committee already has some "third-party evidence" about how Palmeiro "could have gotten" the drug, and the circumstances under which he may have taken it. However, Davis would not elaborate about the nature of the evidence.

"He's going to have to give an explanation somewhere for how it got into his system," Davis said. "His public explanation is that he doesn't know how it happened."

While the evidence-gathering process has begun, a meeting of the full committee probably would not take place until after Congress's August recess -- although Davis has the option of calling a special session. Lynch estimated it would take two to three months, once the committee begins meeting, to reach a decision on whether the case should be referred to the Justice Department to pursue perjury charges.

Proving Palmeiro lied under oath -- if he did -- could be difficult. A baseball source with knowledge of the matter confirmed multiple newspaper reports that the positive test occurred in May, some two months after Palmeiro testified before Congress. However, it is possible for certain steroids to remain in someone's system for at least that long, experts say.

The committee could attempt to subpoena steroid testing results from previous seasons -- this is the first season in which baseball has revealed the names of players who test positive. However, his 10-day suspension -- standard for first-time offenders -- indicated he had not tested positive previously.

On Wednesday, following the newspaper reports that Palmeiro had used stanozolol, many in baseball questioned why Palmeiro had claimed two days earlier that his positive test was an accident -- or why his agents and lawyers had allowed him to claim that.

"They should be checking their malpractice policies," one baseball source said of Palmeiro's legal team.

During the flurry of phone calls and face-to-face conversations that took place Monday in the hours prior to the public announcement, at least one official advised Palmeiro to take one of two firm public stances: Admit everything and apologize, or say absolutely nothing.

Instead, Palmeiro, with his agent, Tellem, at his side during a conference call with reporters Monday afternoon, took the middle route, claiming his positive test was "an accident" but declining to answer specific questions about the nature of the positive test, citing a confidentiality agreement.

League and union officials have touted the Palmeiro case as proof that their system works, and Davis, who led the committee's blistering criticism of baseball's steroid policy during the March hearings, praised the league's handling of the Palmeiro matter.

"Baseball acted by the book," Davis said. "I don't think there is any stain on Major League Baseball. If anything, it shows they have a testing regime, and they enforced it."

However, Rep. John E. Sweeney (R-N.Y.) said the Palmeiro case merely highlighted the flaws in a system that has not been adequately fixed. Baseball's drug testing policy, he said, should not be administered by baseball itself. He said the program required more legitimate oversight, transparency and stiffer penalties.

"This just points out that what you really need is an independent objective entity doing the testing," Sweeney said. "In order for people to have confidence it really needs to be done by some outside entity.

"What if what Mr. Palmeiro seems to insinuate is true, and it really is truly an accidental occurrence? Why give any benefit of the doubt to that person if this system is so cloaked in secrecy?"

Staff writer Amy Shipley contributed to this report from Miami.