The correct answer is, don’t ever talk to law enforcement when your ass is on the line ever.
The comment from the judge on potential sentencing reinforces that. Screw as many others as you can to save your butt.
While there is truth here, I think the better comparison is if they asked you the next day whether you talked about beer on the phone with your friend and you replied ‘no’.
“How many beers you got in the fridge?”
There is only one safe answer: “Please submit your questions to my attorney, and we will get back to you. Please include with your questions your explanation as to why I under any obligation to answer”.
I truly believe America is under the influence of the legal profession and they control The Democrat Party and Government!
Do not talk to any authorities without your lawyer present, and even then just say "I don't remember".
If you are an innocent non-criminal, you should ESPECIALLY not talk to the police. You have no “bigger fish” criminal friends to snitch on as part of a plea bargain, so you have no leverage.
A friend of mine got busted for drug possession in his younger days. They offered him a plea bargain: plead guilty in exchange for probation with no jail time. He took the plea. Later he discovers that he’s now in the convicted felon database, and he can forget about ever being employed in a professional capacity at any corporation.
Process crime = trick question.
Universal answer:
“Please direct any questions to my attorney, Mr.Ms XXXX, his/her telephone number is. Also, please refrain from asking me any further questions. Unless I am under arrest, I will politely be leaving now.”
If they ask if you know what is is they want to ask you about:
“Please direct any questions to my attorney, Mr.Ms XXXX, his/her telephone number is. Also, please refrain from asking me any further questions. Unless I am under arrest, I will politely be leaving now.”
If they say they only have a few easy questions so they can wrap this up;
“Please direct any questions to my attorney, Mr.Ms XXXX, his/her telephone number is. Also, please refrain from asking me any further questions. Unless I am under arrest, I will politely be leaving now.”
If they ask you if it is Tuesday, if you are wearing a blue shirt, of if you know somewhere they can get a good sandwich for lunch,
“Please direct any questions to my attorney, Mr.Ms XXXX, his/her telephone number is. Also, please refrain from asking me any further questions. Unless I am under arrest, I will politely be leaving now.”
I agree completely.
Ayn Rand figured this out long ago: A superfluous multiplicity of laws guarantees that all citizens are de facto lawbreakers, and allows for political persecution via selective enforcement.
This is why I, an ordained minister who has led one of the most boringly upright of lives, do not trust the police, and want as little as possible to do with them.
The FIB are much worse.
Your reply is: After my lawyer arrives we will be taping the interview for our records. If you have any wiretap information you must disclose it before we begin the interview and provide copies of the warrants for the wiretaps.
A false statement to the FBI (any federal officer or agent, actually) is a crime, but only if it is relevant to something within the agency’s jurisdiction.
“What do you think?”
I decline to respond on constitutional and other lawful grounds.