People know they are lying when they loyally lie and defend against something that did in fact happen, they know they are lying, but have an ability to deceive themselves into claiming they didn't know, so they weren't really lying, they were just wrong.

The fact of the matter is that people fall back on a number of plausibilities to defend their position and be able to say they are not in fact lying.

...They can fabricate an alternate reality because there is no proof that they are wrong or lying, the new alt fact is alternate theories and nobody knows for sure...except that facts are in disagreement.
...The group mentality all believes the alternate reality, so it must be true, everyone else believes this so it must be the t***h
...There is a certain element of not wanting to know any facts that do not support the alternate reality, if you don't know the t***h ignorance can be credibly claimed
...The first line of defense is invariably to support that it never happened, it's f**e news, then when unfortunate facts come out that prove this was a lie, the defense moves into the "so what, that's not a crime mode", the part of the defense that also chooses to continue to refuse to acknowledge details and facts that would make this assertion look weak if not stupid.

My cousin had a teenaged son who was a lying thieving little turd, and my cousin was always defending him, often with direct lies that provided alibis that simply were not true, and she was pugnacious enough to get in your face and dare you to call her a liar. According to her, she was always maintaining that she was the last word in terms of honor and integrity.

He had cleaned my tackle box out of a lot of bass lures I had gotten from my grandfather that I had gotten for him when I was stationed in Louisiana. I knew which ones were mine so I was taking them back. He went and got his mom, and she freaked out and said those were his lures she had bought them for him for christmas. I told her she was a liar, which further freaked her out, she absolutely h**ed to be called a liar. She went to my grandma acting all freaked out, she figured I was going to be taken to task for calling her a liar and not being able to prove it. My aunts, uncles, grandparents, and my mother were all there trying to moderate. I knew I finally had my cousin caught dead to rights in a lie. I told her, so you say you bought these for Cory right, where did you get them? She said Walmart. I told her that this would be impossible, that she was mistaken because these lures were manufactured in Shreveport and only sold in local stores in the area, that I had been buying these for our grandparents in the 70's because they worked so well everywhere they travelled. She looked like a deer in headlights, my grandma, who was the last word in the family said let me see them. She looked at one and said yep, these are the ones Keith got us for years. I said I am taking everything I know is mine, my cousin was saying no I'm not, and my grandma told my cousin to shut up, Keith knows which lures are his, you obviously have lied about which ones are Cory's.

When you take up defending a liar it doesn't make sense to lie to do it, if you are ignorant you may as well be lying.

People know they are lying when they loyally lie and defend against something that did in fact happen, they know they are lying, but have an ability to deceive themselves into claiming they didn't know, so they weren't really lying, they were just wrong.

The fact of the matter is that people fall back on a number of plausibilities to defend their position and be able to say they are not in fact lying.

...They can fabricate an alternate reality because there is no proof that they are wrong or lying, the new alt fact is alternate theories and nobody knows for sure...except that facts are in disagreement.
...The group mentality all believes the alternate reality, so it must be true, everyone else believes this so it must be the t***h
...There is a certain element of not wanting to know any facts that do not support the alternate reality, if you don't know the t***h ignorance can be credibly claimed
...The first line of defense is invariably to support that it never happened, it's f**e news, then when unfortunate facts come out that prove this was a lie, the defense moves into the "so what, that's not a crime mode", the part of the defense that also chooses to continue to refuse to acknowledge details and facts that would make this assertion look weak if not stupid.

My cousin had a teenaged son who was a lying thieving little turd, and my cousin was always defending him, often with direct lies that provided alibis that simply were not true, and she was pugnacious enough to get in your face and dare you to call her a liar. According to her, she was always maintaining that she was the last word in terms of honor and integrity.

He had cleaned my tackle box out of a lot of bass lures I had gotten from my grandfather that I had gotten for him when I was stationed in Louisiana. I knew which ones were mine so I was taking them back. He went and got his mom, and she freaked out and said those were his lures she had bought them for him for christmas. I told her she was a liar, which further freaked her out, she absolutely h**ed to be called a liar. She went to my grandma acting all freaked out, she figured I was going to be taken to task for calling her a liar and not being able to prove it. My aunts, uncles, grandparents, and my mother were all there trying to moderate. I knew I finally had my cousin caught dead to rights in a lie. I told her, so you say you bought these for Cory right, where did you get them? She said Walmart. I told her that this would be impossible, that she was mistaken because these lures were manufactured in Shreveport and only sold in local stores in the area, that I had been buying these for our grandparents in the 70's because they worked so well everywhere they travelled. She looked like a deer in headlights, my grandma, who was the last word in the family said let me see them. She looked at one and said yep, these are the ones Keith got us for years. I said I am taking everything I know is mine, my cousin was saying no I'm not, and my grandma told my cousin to shut up, Keith knows which lures are his, you obviously have lied about which ones are Cory's.

When you take up defending a liar it doesn't make sense to lie to do it, if you are ignorant you may as well be lying.