Originally Posted by
marklyon
Thanks to
18 USC 1001, the less said to government agents the better.
From a practical point of view, yes, but from a legal point of view, it's just a little murkier. The 5th Amendment can only be invoked if a
truthful answer would subject you to danger. But the only way 18 USC 1001 can be violated is if what you said
wasn't true. So to be able to assert the privilege, you need to be able to argue that there was an articulable danger that a true statement would be perceived to be false. That's a little harder than claiming it for other reasons.