[Tribune7]

but, if you tell a lie to federal officials, that is the same as telling a lie under oath.

That's scary. I would have acquitted her.

[summer]

That's actually what this attorney said. Durig an investigation - if it's state or local, you can lie, but if it's federal officials asking the questions, you're in trouble if you lie. I've never heard of that kind of distinction between local, state and federal.

[summer]

And, I should say, what the attorney said was you can lie in a local or state investigation - and it's not the same as telling a lie in a federal investigation, because: telling a lie in a federal investigation is the same as telling a lie under oath. (The attorney did not say 'it's OK to lie' to anyone; just that the law views that lie differently if it happens during a federal investigation.)

[summer]

All of which makes me wonder - wasn't Jayson Blair telling lies in print during a federal investigation of the DC sniper case? Or am I wrong here? Or is it because he himself wasn't under investigation, he gets off here? I don't know. I'm not a lawyer.