WASHINGTON, March 31 (Reuters) - The Trump

administration sought to put the scandal over its use of the

Signal messaging app behind it on Monday, calling it case

closed, even as the breach provoked bipartisan criticism and

opened up divisions inside the White House.

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at the White

House that the administration maintained confidence in National

Security Advisor Mike Waltz, who has faced criticism for

apparently adding the editor of The Atlantic magazine to a

private thread describing an imminent bombing campaign in Yemen.

Leavitt said that steps have been taken to prevent a repeat

of the incident, though she did not elaborate.

"As the president has made it very clear, Mike Waltz

continues to be an important part of his national security team

and this case has been closed here at the White House as far as

we are concerned," Leavitt said on Monday.

"There have been steps made to ensure that something like

that can obviously never happen again, and we're moving

forward," she said.

The Yemen bombing campaign, which targeted Houthi militants

that have been attacking commercial ships in support of

Palestinians in Gaza, occurred in mid-March, but was disclosed

publicly by Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg on March 24.

Goldberg had been added to the Signal chat alongside several

high-ranking officials, including Defense Secretary Pete

Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance and CIA Director John

Ratcliffe.

Waltz's handling of the incident irked some senior members

of Trump's team but for now he appears to have survived the

incident, a source familiar with the situation said. Another

source, a Trump ally, said the president had expressed anger at

Waltz's conduct in private.

On Monday, Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee

sent a letter to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi

Gabbard, calling for the intelligence community to conduct an

independent probe into the Signal leak.

The top Republican and Democrat on the U.S. Senate Armed

Services Committee said on March 27 they had asked the Pentagon

to investigate the matter.