Actually he pretty much did say she lied: "But having the involved US attorney then basically lie about it all in a very public statement"
Second paragraph
Basically: Adverb, In the most essential respects; fundamentally: "a basically simple idea".
Example usages: in this document: "Ctrl-F basically"
"Basically lying" is not the same as "lying", as commonly used in American English. Feel free to contrast this with "technically lying".
If you want to lawyer Carmen's words, then Linus get's to lawyer his.
Strictly speaking, he didn't.
"Compare these two statements - one from July 2011, one from yesterday, and tell me Carmen Ortiz isn't lying.."
Perhaps Linus' words were "carefully crafted" too. He didn't strictly say she was lying, but he sure did imply that she was deliberately deceiving.
You said:
"If Linus said she made two _deliberate deceptions_, he'd be absolutely correct."
Hmmm...
(FWIW, I think deliberate deception is the same thing as lying)