President Trump is standing by his national security adviser, Mike Waltz, as the administration faces criticism over the exposure of high-level conversations about a military strike in Yemen.

During an interview Tuesday with NBC, Trump described the leak of encrypted Signal chats as a "glitch" and defended Waltz, pointing to an unidentified staffer as the person responsible for adding a liberal, anti-Trump journalist to the private chat room.

"It was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there," Trump told NBC News.

"Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man," Trump said.

Trump defends Waltz

The administration hasn't said how The Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg, an infamous anti-Trump figure responsible for generating the sticky rumor about Trump calling soldiers "sucker and losers", got into the chat room.

Trump called Goldberg a "sleazebag" during a Tuesday White House meeting, where the president defended Waltz as a "good man."

"He's a very good man," Trump said of his national security adviser. "That man is a very good man right there that you criticize so strongly."

How did Goldberg get in?

During a Fox News interview Tuesday, Waltz said he takes "full responsibility" for the "embarrassing" oversight, but he still isn't sure how Goldberg got access.

Contradicting Trump, Waltz said "a staffer wasn't responsible" for the error.

"I can tell you for 100% I don't know this guy," he said of Goldberg. "I know him by his horrible reputation, and he really is the bottom scum of journalists. And I know him in the sense that he hates the president, but I don't text him. He wasn't on my phone. And we're going to figure out how this happened," Waltz said.

The chats, which were published in full by Goldberg on Wednesday, mostly consist of a high-level foreign policy discussion about the timing of a strike on Houthi rebels in Yemen.

Democrats have argued that some details shared by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, including information about the attack's timing and the weapons used, were classified.

Two top national security officials who were on the chat, CIA director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, have insisted to Congress that no classified information was shared.

Democrats pounce

In any event, the controversy has presented Democrats with an opening to attack Trump, who has been riding a wave of momentum after a historic re-election that shattered the Democratic party's coalition.

Trump and his top officials have emphasized that the attack went off without a hitch, and they say the administration's critics are blowing the story out of proportion to undermine the president.

“They’ve made a big deal out of this because we’ve had two perfect months,” Trump said.