The FBI Is Investigating The Tyler Hamilton-Lance Armstrong Restaurant Run-In

Move this story off Versus and onto TruTV—the feds are getting involved and talking about witness tampering. Whoa.

Here's the report from the :

The F.B.I. has requested surveillance video from a Colorado restaurant to glean more information about a recent confrontation there between Lance Armstrong and his former teammate Tyler Hamilton, according to the restaurant's co-owner.

Jodi Larner, a co-owner of the French restaurant Cache Cache in Aspen, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that she spoke to an F.B.I. agent in the morning and that he told her she would be subpoenaed for the surveillance tape.

Federal authorities - who for a year have been investigating Armstrong for crimes relating to doping and cycling - are looking into whether the encounter between Hamilton and Armstrong on Saturday night constitutes witness tampering, said a person briefed on the matter. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to jeopardize his access to sensitive information.

Hamilton's attorney told the Times that Armstrong went after his former teammate: "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?' Not a lot of shades of gray there."

But another restaurant patron said the discussion wasn't terribly heated, that Armstrong never left his stool. The question is, then, can Lance Armstrong intimidate a witness without standing up? Say what you will about seven Tours de France after surviving cancer, but that is one hell of an accomplishment.

PREVIOUSLY: Lance Armstrong Stepped To Tyler Hamilton Outside A Boys Room In Aspen On Saturday

Altercation Between Armstrong and Hamilton Interests F.B.I. [NY Times]