HOUSTON — Lawyers for Roger Clemens' former trainer say they need more time to obtain a statement from a federal prosecutor who compelled Brian McNamee to speak with former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell.

McNamee's attorneys, Richard Emery and Earl Ward, filed a motion Wednesday in U.S. District Court, asking for an extension to Dec. 18 to produce a formal response from Matthew Parrella, the former assistant U.S. attorney who interviewed McNamee.

Mitchell based part of his report on the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball on statements by McNamee, who later claimed the government told him he would be prosecuted if he didn't speak with Mitchell. Clemens sued McNamee in January, claiming his former trainer's statements were defamatory.

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison had asked Emery and Ward to provide "statements from the prosecutors and investigators involved" by Nov. 18.

Emery and Ward said in their motion that Parrella, a member of the BALCO prosecution team in San Francisco, told Emery by phone that he needed to get approval from supervisors.

"Mr. Parrella indicated that he could not produce a statement by Nov. 18, 2008," the motion said. "He needs authority from supervisors before disclosing information from a criminal investigation and he has not yet determined the form in which he will respond."

Emery and Ward insist McNamee's statements to Mitchell are privileged because the trainer was cooperating with a criminal investigation. Mitchell, a Boston Red Sox director, was hired by baseball commissioner Bud Selig to run the investigation.