perjury

Perjury is the crime of knowingly making a false statement about a material matter while under oath, whether in court, in a deposition, or before a body such as Congress. Under federal law, codified principally at 18 U.S.C. section 1621, it requires that the statement be willfully false and that the speaker know it to be untrue, not merely be mistaken. Following the Signal messaging scandal, a member of Congress sought perjury charges against officials over their congressional testimony, and as the legal stakes underlying confirmation hearings conducted under oath.