Step up to the Mike

Mike Wallace spoke with the NY Times about his upcoming interview with Roger Clemens. Wallace and 60 Minutes first profiled Clemens back in 2001, and Wallace and the Rocket have become friends since. Wallace has been friends with George Steinbrenner for years, but the 89-year old "correspondent emeritus" will have no problem giving a fair and balanced report.

Clemens' reps reached out to 60 Minutes to do the piece in attempt to continue to do damage control in the wake of the Mitchell Report.

“When we went down there to profile him, we went to his home, I watched him exercise, I watched him work out and he became my friend,” Wallace said. “He trusts me and is going to talk to me and I hope he can answer all the questions on my mind.”

Wallace is already working on his line of questions.

“Why would McNamee say these things he said?” said Wallace, a point that has been asked by others because McNamee was compelled to meet with Mitchell’s investigators by federal prosecutors and could be in legal jeopardy if found to be lying.

“Mitchell is thorough, fair and careful,” Wallace added, “so you have to take that into consideration as well when you are thinking about questions to put to Roger.”

The report will air on CBS, Sunday, January 6.