Lawyers for Lance Armstrong, the subject of a recent “60 Minutes” story about doping allegations against him, demanded an apology from CBS News today, contending that several points in the network’s lengthy piece were “incorrect, false and broadcast in error.”
In a four-page letter sent to CBS this morning, obtained by the American-Statesman, Armstrong attorneys John W. Keker and Elliot R. Peters of San Francisco accused “60 Minutes” of recklessly presenting information, then bolstering their story with “other untrue assertions and facts taken out of context.”
The story, which was broadcast May 22, was based largely on an interview with Armstrong teammate Tyler Hamilton, who told the network that Armstrong had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs at the Tour of Switzerland in 2001 and that “people took care of it” and “figured out a way for it to go away,” according to the letter.
The story also asserted that a lab director who conducted the test agreed to an unusual meeting with Armstrong officials and that Armstrong also donated money to the International Cycling Union. “Host (Scott) Pelly suggested bribery on Mr. Armstrong’s part,” the letter said.
According to the letter, Armstrong did not test positive at the 2001 tour, there was no secret meeting between the lab director and Armstrong representatives and Armstrong never attempted to influence the cycling union with charitable contributions.
“We alerted ’60 Minutes’ producers in advance of the show that virtually every single one of these allegations was false. We provided evidence to prove it, and we warned CBS that the defamatory message that it sought to convey was an outrage,” Keker wrote.
A spokesman for CBS told the Associated Press today that the network could not comment specifically on the letter but said, “We consider this the most thorough investigation into doping in the sport of cycling ever done.”