Vicious interpersonal conflicts among Hegseth staff cloud leak investigation

Senior officials unsure who to believe after aides fired and chief of staff quits amid look into Panama canal media leak

Defense secretary Pete Hegseth's orbit has become consumed by a contentious leak investigation that those inside the Pentagon believe is behind the firing of three senior aides last week, according to five people involved in the situation.

The secretary's office has been marked for weeks by ugly internal politics between chief of staff Joe Kasper, who left the department on Thursday, and the three ousted aides, including senior adviser Dan Caldwell, deputy chief Darin Selnick and chief to the deputy defense secretary Colin Carroll.