Donald Trump Clarifies Meghan Markle 'Nasty' Comment to Piers Morgan

President Trump wants to make it perfectly clear -- he didn't say Meghan Markle IS nasty ... he said she WAS nasty when she spoke negatively about him.

The Prez was interviewed by Piers Morgan on "Good Morning Britain" Wednesday during his 3-day trip to the UK, and Piers pressed him on his thoughts about the Duchess of Sussex and asked whether he thinks she is, in fact, "nasty."

Trump says no, and explains he didn't know Markle had spoken badly about him in the past ... but he's not surprised. He says when he found out he responded, "Wow, I didn't know she was nasty" ... but meant to essentially say, "I didn't know she was nasty about me."

Got that? Watch the clip ... judge for yourself.

Regardless, the Prez says he hopes Meghan enjoys her life and called her "very nice" before pointing out he doesn't actually know her ... and slamming the media for embellishing the "nasty" controversy.

Then, Piers asked the big question -- was it awkward meeting Prince Harry in the midst of the hullabaloo? Not at all, according to Trump ... but he admits he never addressed the topic with Meghan's royal hubby. He says Harry couldn't have been nicer, though ... and he thinks he's great.

Meanwhile, Trump used his time over the pond to insult Hollywood royalty on Twitter -- Bette Midler. Wonder how it would go if Donald ran into her husband?