Three Hegseth aides ousted in leak investigation decry ‘baseless attacks’

US defence secretary Pete Hegseth (Matias Delacroix/AP, file)

Three former senior advisers to US defence secretary Pete Hegseth decried on Saturday what they called “baseless attacks” after each was escorted from the Pentagon in an expanding probe on information leaks.

Dan Caldwell, an aide to Mr Hegseth; Colin Carroll, chief of staff to deputy defence secretary Stephen Feinberg; and Darin Selnick, Mr Hegseth’s deputy chief of staff were among four officials in Mr Hegseth’s inner circle who were ousted this past week.