If that's a possible response, the government probably would have lied to its lawyers for their own protection, not asked them to lie.

Then the lawyers should fire their client for lying to them.

I think the lawyers' client is also their employer.

If my employer was tricking or misleading me into giving false information in a courtroom, and I found out, I would quit.

Not if you religiously believed in their cause.

And they would replace you with a team player. We can probably assume that these lawyers are team players.

Unless, you know, the money is too good.

It's not. The lawyer who made the statement is Paul Freeborne. He's not outside counsel, he's a DOJ employee. His salary is unlikely to be surprising to, say, a Silicon Valley programmer. If he's been around a while, he's probably somewhere between $100-150k with locality adjustments.

He'd be doing much better in the private sector, even as an associate in a law firm.

The man is an assistant United States Attorney, he should and did know better.

Dude shows up literally _everywhere_ www.google.com/search?q=Paul+G+Freeborne+attorney

   * https://www.eff.org/cases/jewel
   * DADT (don't ask don't tell)

One could ask themselves, paul.freeborne@usdoj.gov

Then they should quit rather than work for an unethical employer.