Jed, there many plausible explanations why Rossi did lie. One of my guesses is that Rossi did lie to Krivit, because he insulted him and others therefore he denied the E-Cat demo from Krivit. It depends only your imagination how many similar and plausible scenarios there might be.
It may be difficult to find how he would benefit from lying in so obvious manner, but if Rossi has the real thing, then there is no way that there is any harm done even if he lied. Obviously Rossi does not want that mass media will reach E-Cat until October. As media got too interested in May and early June, it made perfectly sense that he wanted to discredit himself. Presenting silly demonstration to overly scientific journalist, is the best way to tarnish own reputation. And there has not been much media attention since. Logic is simple. If Rossi had wanted that we believe him, he would have taken a swimming pool and and boiled all the water away. This did not happen, but only unconclusive short demonstrations. Therefore Rossi does not want publicity outside cold fusion circles. There was, however significant media attention because Swedish and particularly Mats Lewan took it seriously. Therefore making silly Demonstration in June was good opportunity to send a message that "demonstrations were dubious, please do not bother me before October". —Jouni
