Embattled FBI director Kash Patel has been facing criticisms for posting that they had the 'subject" in custody responsible for the Kirk shooting, but claimed on Fox and Friends that's not what he said.

Patel is taking a page from the Trump handbook of denying what he clearly said to rewrite the episode. In a lengthy interview with Fox and Friends, Patel framed his actions as heroic, necessary, and transparent, but when co-host Brian Kilmeade asked about the message saying they caught the guy when he hadn't, he lied.

Patel had clearly stated on X, "The subject for the horrific shooting today that took the life of Charlie Kirk is now in custody."

Watch what happens in what appears to be a completely scripted Q&A on this sensitive topic.

KILMEADE: So in the 24 hours after, when we were still looking for the guy, I know you posted that we got him, and that ended up not being true.

You took some incoming because of that. What led to you posting that? Why did you feel so certain about it? And what do you have to say about the criticism?

Patel started by saying he is committed to "being transparent with working with the public."

Now comes the BIG lie.

PATEL: I stated in that message that we had a subject, and that we were going to interview him, and we did, and he was released.

The FBI director did not message that at all. Patel clearly stated the FBI had the person responsible for the shooting and even thanked Utah state and officials in apprehending the "subject."

PATEL: The job of the FBI is not just to manhunt the actual suspect who did the killing or suspects, but it's also to eliminate targets and eliminate subjects who are not involved in the process, and that's what we were doing.

Could I have worded it a little better in the heat of the moment?

Sure.

But do I regret putting it out? Absolutely not.

I was telling the world what the FBI was doing, as we were doing, and I'm continuing to do that.

I don't want anyone out there to find a director that has been more transparent and more willing to work the media on high-profile cases or any case the FBI is handling than we have been.

Patel's announcement, so early in the investigation of the Kirk shooting, was a dereliction of duty. Patel posted that they had the guy in custody already, when they clearly did not.

It shows a severe lack of communication with his field offices.

His message might've relaxed state and local authorities from looking any further into the shooting since they would've taken it that they had arrested the man responsible.

Fox and Friends did their best to whitewash his incompetence.

Patel was ALWAYS unqualified for the job, and his performance only proved the point.