Washington DC - President Donald Trump admitted that Pete Hegseth made a mistake by using Signal for official communications, but insisted that the defense secretary is "safe" for now.

In a new interview with The Atlantic, Trump admitted that "Signalgate" was real and a major mistake, and for the first time pointed the blame at Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.

"I think we learned: Maybe don’t use Signal, okay?" Trump told The Atlantic's editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg, who originally broke the story after being added to a Signal chat in plans to bomb Yemen were being shared.

"I would frankly tell these people not to use Signal, although it’s been used by a lot of people. But, whatever it is, whoever has it, whoever owns it, I wouldn't want to use it."

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When asked whether he uses Signal himself for communication with colleagues and cabinet members, Trump simply said, "I don't use it, no."

The president also insisted that Hegseth was "safe" in his position.

"Pete's gone through a hard time," he said. "I think he's gonna get it together. I think he's a smart guy. He is a talented guy. He's got a lot of energy. He's been beat up by this, very much so. But I had a talk with him, a positive talk, but I had a talk with him."

Trump also stood by National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who was reportedly the one who originally added Goldberg to the Signal group chat.

"Waltz is fine. I mean, he's here," Trump said. "He just left this office. He’s fine. He was beat up also."

At the very end of the interview with The Atlantic, journalist Michael Scherer asked Trump whether he had tried to call him after a UFC fight on April 13.

"Did you mean to call me at 1:30 in the morning after the UFC fight?" Scherer inquired. "After the UFC fight in Miami, I got a call from your cellphone number at 1:30 AM."

"Really?" Trump replied, "Oh, no, that's another – that sounds like another Signal thing."