By JUAN LOZANO
Associated Press

HOUSTON - A federal judge said Monday he is "agonizing" over a defamation lawsuit Roger Clemens filed against his former personal trainer, who accused the pitcher of using performance-enhancing drugs.

U.S. District Judge Hon. Keith Ellison made the comment after a nearly-two-hour hearing in which attorneys for both sides reiterated arguments they had already briefed in court filings over the last few months.

The issues before Ellison are whether he should throw out the lawsuit and, if he doesn't, whether it should stay in Texas.

Clemens sued Brian McNamee in January after his former trainer told baseball investigator and former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell that the seven-time Cy Young Award winner used steroids and human growth hormone.

Clemens attorney Joe Roden said his client had agreed to drop a claim for intentional infliction of emotional distress because it was covered in other parts of the lawsuit.

Clemens, a 354-game winner, is under investigation by the FBI after denying McNamee's claims while under oath during a deposition and public testimony before a congressional committee.

Richard Emery, one of McNamee's attorneys, said the lawsuit should be dismissed on the grounds that his client's statements to Mitchell were protected by privilege through a deal struck with federal prosecutors.

Emery also argued that the lawsuit should not stay in Texas because many of the allegations McNamee made against Clemens relate to things that happened in Toronto, Florida and New York. McNamee's attorneys want the case moved to New York, where he lives. Clemens lives in Houston.

Clemens' attorneys argued that McNamee's statements are not protected because he made them to a private individual, Mitchell, who was part of a private investigation and that they were not part of a judicial proceeding or a federal probe.

Mitchell was hired by Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig to examine steroid use in baseball.

Roden also said the lawsuit should stay in Texas because McNamee did business there, and because his statements against Clemens have done him the most harm in Texas.

Ellison called the issue of whether McNamee's statements were privileged the possible "lynchpin of the whole case."

The judge gave no timeline for when he would issue a ruling in the case.

Clemens originally filed the suit in Texas state court, but McNamee had it removed to the federal system.