Feds explain why they want to question Lance Armstrong's girlfriend

Brent Schrotenboer | USA TODAY Sports

The U.S. government wants to question Lance Armstrong's girlfriend about his history of lying, including a recent attempt to cover up his role in a car accident in Aspen, Colo., according to court documents the government filed Monday.

The government is suing Armstrong for civil fraud and recently issued a subpoena to Armstrong's girlfriend, Anna Hansen, to testify in a deposition this month. Armstrong's attorneys have asked a judge to quash that subpoena, saying she knows nothing related to the case.

But the government disagrees and Monday outlined why it wants testimony from Hansen, the mother of Armstrong's two youngest children.

"Until his confession, Armstrong told only those closest to him the truth about his drug-fueled success as a cyclist," government attorneys stated. "The United States is entitled to learn what Armstrong told those confidants, including Anna Hansen, about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, his acts of concealment and other matters relating to this litigation."

The government also said it wants explore "Hansen's knowledge of instances relevant to Armstrong's character for untruthfulness."

"For example, Hansen has admitted to conspiring with Armstrong to lie to Colorado police officers in the hope that Armstrong could avoid liability for a late-night automobile collision with a parked car," government attorneys stated. "Additionally, any knowledge Hansen has concerning other instances of Armstrong's untruthfulness, including about his doping activities and concealment campaign, are properly discoverable."

Armstrong hit two parked cars with his vehicle in Aspen and let Hansen take the blame for the accident to avoid making news. Hansen later admitted to lying about what happened but was not charged. Armstrong pleaded guilty to careless driving.

The government has sued the former cyclist on behalf of the U.S. Postal Service, arguing that the USPS wouldn't have paid more than $30 million to sponsor Armstrong's cycling team if it had known the team was violating its sponsorship contract by doping. The government says Armstrong "made false statements in order to get the USPS to make sponsorship payments to the team and to avoid the team's obligation to repay."

If the government succeeds, Armstrong could be on the hook for triple damages – nearly $100 million.

Tyler Hamilton, Armstrong's former teammate, recently testified in a deposition as part of the case and said he now wished "none of this was happening."

In his testimony, he again described an incident in which Armstrong allegedly tried to intimidate him at a restaurant in Aspen. The incident came after Hamilton told the world about Armstrong's doping on 60 Minutes in 2011. At the time, Armstrong had vehemently denied doping and didn't confess until January 2013. He loudly confronted Hamilton at the restaurant and asked Hamilton how much 60 Minutes paid him.

Toward the end of the confrontation, Hamilton apologized to Hansen for this "whole mess, for everything," Hamilton said in the deposition April 2 in Missoula, Mont. "You know, I — I mean, I do feel — I feel — to this day I feel bad about just all this, you know. I wish — I wish none of this was happening, but it is."

Asked how he felt about the confrontation in the restaurant, Hamilton replied, "Pretty shaken up, pretty shaken up, yeah, you know. Lance was a powerful individual, and, you know, I took his words pretty seriously."

The government included a partial transcript of Hamilton's deposition to show Hansen was a witness to this exchange.

"Hansen has been in a relationship with Armstrong since 2008 and, during the period of their relationship, Armstrong engaged in conduct that is unambiguously relevant to this litigation — most notably, his attempts to silence anyone who knew about his doping," government attorneys stated.

"During their relationship, Armstrong also was the subject of three investigations, has been a defendant in six lawsuits, and was stripped of seven Tour de France titles, all because of his doping and related fraudulent conduct. Hansen's suggestion that she `knows nothing' related to Armstrong's doping and concealment is implausible."

Follow sports writer Brent Schrotenboer on Twitter @Schrotenboer. E-mail: bschrotenb@usatoday.com