"Whether or not the predicament of the wrongdoer run to ground tugs at the heartstrings, neither the text nor the spirit of the Fifth Amendment confers a privilege to lie. "[P]roper invocation of the Fifth Amendment privilege against compulsory self-incrimination allows a witness to remain silent, but not to swear falsely."
Majority opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia.
It refers to law enforcement, period. The Fifth Amendment doesn't really care what kind of badge that you're being interrogated by, and that's what this case was addressing, since it was a SCOTUS case.
This particular case involved the IRS, but the IRS are federal agents, as are FBI. It explains this in the summary, if you don't want to read the full ruling.
Durham aside, I don’t understand how lying to the fbi can be a crime. Who the fuck are they such that lying to them is a crime???
Not saying your opinion is wrong, but wasn't the FBI that made the determination. It was SCOTUS, 1998: Brogan v United States:
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/522/398/
Majority opinion written by Justice Antonin Scalia.
Is that referring to the FBI?
It refers to law enforcement, period. The Fifth Amendment doesn't really care what kind of badge that you're being interrogated by, and that's what this case was addressing, since it was a SCOTUS case.
This particular case involved the IRS, but the IRS are federal agents, as are FBI. It explains this in the summary, if you don't want to read the full ruling.