The FBI wants to review video from a Colorado restaurant where Lance Armstrong and Tyler Hamilton – an ex-teammate who has accused Armstrong of doping – exchanged words on Saturday, the New York Times reported yesterday.
Jodi Larner, a co-owner of the restaurant Cache Cache in Aspen, told the newspaper that she spoke to an FBI agent in the morning and was told she would be subpoenaed for the surveillance tape.
It’s not clear if the restaurant’s video will actually show the confrontation between Hamilton and Armstrong, which Hamilton’s attorney reported to federal authorities.
The New York Times, citing “a person briefed on the matter,” said authorities are probing whether the encounter constitutes witness tampering on Armstrong’s part.
Hamilton, who was one of Armstrong’s team-mates on the now-defunct US Postal Service team, is among those who have testified before a grand jury convened to probe doping in cycling, with Armstrong a primary focus.
Last month, Hamilton took doping accusations against Armstrong, a seven-time Tour de France winner, to a more public forum with an interview on CBS television’s “60 Minutes”.
Armstrong has denied doping allegations, including those raised by former team-mates and self-confessed dope cheats Floyd Landis and Hamilton, who claimed in the CBS report that Armstrong used EPO in preparing for the 2001 Tour de France.
Armstrong has demanded an apology from CBS over the report.
He has a house in Aspen and eats at Cache Cache frequently according to Larner, who is a friend of the cyclist.
Hamilton was in town for an event sponsored by Outside Magazine, which first reported the two men’s versions of their chance meeting.
Larner told the NY Times that it was a “non-event”.
Armstrong told Outside Magazine the incident was “certainly awkward for both of us” and “truly uneventful.”
Hamilton attorney Chris Manderson, however, characterised Armstrong as “aggressive”.
“Would you feel threatened if someone said to you, ‘We’re going to destroy you on the witness stand and we’re going to make your life a living hell’,” Manderson said.
“Not a lot of shades of grey there.”