SAN FRANCISCO -- There is "absolutely no doubt that the U.S. attorney is still …taking evidence that involves (Barry) Bonds" and the grand jury investigation into his potential steroid use is still ongoing despite the firing of the case's chief prosecutor, the Giants slugger's attorney confirmed Tuesday.

Attorney Michael Rains' comment came in response to statements made by former Giants trainer Mark Letendre, who says he appeared before the federal grand jury in San Francisco on Feb. 14 -- months after former U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan's controversial firing.

Letendre, 50, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that he testified for about an hour Feb. 14 and was asked about Bonds' size and confirmed the slugger hurt his elbow in 1999.

"It was all pretty vanilla," Letendre said. "I'm pretty far removed from it."

Bonds' former girlfriend Kimberly Bell has told an earlier grand jury that Bonds blamed the 1999 elbow injury on steroid use. Bonds missed seven weeks that season after undergoing surgery to remove a bone spur and repair a damaged tendon in his left arm.

Letendre of Scottsdale, Ariz., served as the team's head trainer until after the 1999 season, when he was named director of Major League Baseball's Umpire Medical Services.

Since Ryan was fired in December, speculation has mounted that the Department of Justice would quietly extinguish the long-running investigation into Bonds.

"There is absolutely no doubt that the U.S. attorney is still running a grand jury and still taking evidence that involves Bonds," Rains said. "There is still an active effort to indict Barry."

Letendre's testimony came the day before Ryan's final day on the job, but a temporary successor had already been named in court documents.

U.S. Attorney Scott Schools refused to comment Tuesday on Letendre's remarks or whether the grand jury probe was continuing, a spokeswoman said