Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday poked fun at one of the Trump White House’s most embarrassing early second-term scandals.

Speaking at Fox Nation’s 2025 Patriot Awards, the former Fox News host — who now styles himself as “Secretary of War” — spotted U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz in the audience and called out:

“I see Mike Waltz. Mike, I’ll hit you up on Signal later.”

The line was a clear nod to the so-called “Signalgate” fiasco, when The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg was accidentally added to a private Signal chat of top administration officials discussing potential strikes in Yemen.

Hegseth, who was part of that chat and faced calls to quit over it, drew laughter and a few groans from the audience for the remark.

Waltz, who claimed responsibility for the error and resigned from his role as national security adviser following the leak, appeared amused and seemed to mouth at Hegseth: “I’m good.”

“Too soon? C’mon,” Hegseth grinned, before pivoting to praise President Donald Trump as “the best possible and amazing commander in chief.”

Watch from the 1:45 point here: