WATCH: Patel defends social media post about Kirk ‘subject’ during Senate hearing

FBI Director Kash Patel had posted in the hours after the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk that “the subject” was in custody even though the actual suspect was still at large.

Watch the full line of questioning between Sen. Peter Welch and FBI Director Kash Patel.

“I don’t see it as a mistake. I see it as something — working with the public to identify that there was a subject in custody,” Patel told senators Tuesday.

WATCH: Patel defends Kirk killing investigation in opening statement for Senate Judiciary hearing

He said he wanted to inform the public that a subject had been taken into custody, even though that person did not end up being the suspect in the shooting.

He told senators: “Could I have been more careful in my verbiage and said we had a subject instead of the subject? Sure.”

READ MORE: 3 takeaways from Kash Patel’s tense oversight hearing

Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, pushed back, saying it caused confusion by making it sound like authorities had caught the person suspected of killing Kirk.

Patel shot back by saying, “That’s not what I said.”