By BEN FINLEY and KONSTANTIN TOROPIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaders at the Pentagon have significantly altered how military officials will speak with Congress after a pair of new memos issued last week.

In an Oct. 15 memo, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and his deputy, Steve Feinberg, ordered Pentagon officials — including the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff — to obtain permission from the department’s main legislative affairs office before they have any communication with Capitol Hill.

The memo was issued the same day the vast majority of Pentagon reporters exited the building rather than agree to the Defense Department’s new restrictions on their work, and it appears to be part of a broader effort by Hegseth to exert tighter control over what the department communicates to the outside world.

According to the memo, a copy of which was authenticated by a Pentagon official, “unauthorized engagements with Congress by (Pentagon) personnel acting in their official capacity, no matter how well-intentioned, may undermine Department-wide priorities critical to achieving our legislative objectives.”

Sean Parnell, the top Pentagon spokesman, called the move a “pragmatic step” that’s part of an effort “to improve accuracy and responsiveness in communicating with the Congress to facilitate increased transparency.”

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Previously, individual agencies and military branches within the Pentagon were able to manage their own communications with Congress.

A second memo, issued Oct. 17, directed a “working group to further define the guidance on legislative engagements.”

The memos were first reported by the website Breaking Defense.

By MATTHEW LEE, AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration is preparing for a visit to the United States by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman next month, in what could be the first state visit to the U.S. by a foreign leader in Trump’s second term, according to several people familiar with the planning.

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Work is underway to prepare a package of agreements that Trump and the crown prince could sign or witness during the visit, U.S. officials familiar with the plans for the trip said. The trip is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 17-19, but the timing and status of the visit could change, according to two people familiar with the planning.

Those people and the officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the trip before it has been announced.

The planned visit will be the first to the United States by the crown prince since the killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul during Trump’s first term in office in 2018.

U.S. intelligence agencies said Prince Mohammed likely directed the killing, resulting in U.S. sanctions against several Saudi officials. He denies his involvement. But in the years since, both the Trump and Biden administrations have tried to mend ties with Saudi Arabia.

The opening major foreign trip of Trump’s second term was to Saudi Arabia.

The first Trump administration unsuccessfully sought to have Saudi Arabia join the Abraham Accords, the agreements that normalized relations between Israel and Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Morocco and Sudan.

The Biden administration sought to negotiate a similar deal, but those attempts were derailed by the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks in Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. A tenuous ceasefire in Gaza that Trump negotiated has given the administration new hope for the possibility that Saudi Arabia could be brought into the Abraham Accords.

Details of the agreements to be signed during the planned visit were not immediately clear, but many are expected to be commercial and trade deals under the framework of a Strategic Economic Partnership that Trump signed with the crown prince during the Republican president’s visit to Saudi Arabia in May.

A bilateral security deal, long sought by the Saudis, is also under discussion, according to the officials. Trump signed an executive order last month offering Saudi Arabia’s fellow Gulf state neighbor Qatar security assurances in the wake of Israel’s attack on Hamas leadership in Doha.

The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment, and the Saudi Embassy declined to comment. Bloomberg first reported the expected visit.

Associated Press writers Aamer Madhani and Darlene Superville contributed to this report.

By KIMBERLEE KRUESI and PATRICK WHITTLE, Associated Press

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — His U.S. Senate campaign under fire, Maine Democrat Graham Platner said Wednesday that a tattoo on his chest has been covered to no longer reflect an image widely recognized as a Nazi symbol.

The first-time political candidate said he got the skull and crossbones tattoo in 2007, when he was in his 20s and in the Marine Corps. It happened during a night of drinking while he was on leave in Croatia, he said, adding he was unaware until recently that the image has been associated with Nazi police.

Platner, in an Associated Press interview, said that while his campaign initially said he would remove the tattoo, he chose to cover it up with another tattoo due to the limited options where he lives in rural Maine.

“Going to a tattoo removal place is going to take a while,” he said. “I wanted this thing off my body.”

The initial tattoo image resembled a specific symbol of Hitler’s paramilitary Schutzstaffel, or SS, which was responsible for the systematic murders of millions of Jews and others in Europe during World War II. Platner didn’t offer details about the new tattoo, but offered to send the AP a photo later Wednesday.

The oyster farmer is mounting a progressive campaign against Republican Susan Collins, who has held the Senate seat for 30 years. The crowded Democratic primary field includes two-term Gov. Janet Mills.

Platner said he had never been questioned about the tattoo’s connections to Nazi symbols in the 20 years he has had it. He said it was there when he enlisted in the Army, which requires an examination for tattoos of hate symbols.

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“I also passed a full background check to receive a security clearance to join the Ambassador to Afghanistan’s security detail,” Platner said.

Questions about the tattoo come after the recent discovery of Platner’s now-deleted online statements that included dismissing military sexual assaults, questioning Black patrons’ gratuity habits and criticizing police officers and rural Americans.

Platner has apologized for those comments, saying they were made after he left the Army in 2012, when he was struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

He has resisted calls to drop out of the race and has the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who has described Platner as a stronger candidate for the seat than Mills.

Platner said he was not ashamed to confront his past comments and actions because it reflects the lessons he needed to take to get where he is today.

“I don’t look at this as a liability,” he told the AP. “I look at this as is a life that I have lived, a journey that has been difficult, that has been full of struggle, that has also gotten me to where I am today. And I’m very proud of who I am.”

Platner planned a town hall Wednesday in Ogunquit, Maine.

Kruesi reported from Providence, Rhode Island.

Gophers defensive end Anthony Smith shares the Big Ten Conference lead in sacks, which can serve as a tent pole in both his personal and the program’s overall goal of him being a first- or second-round pick in the NFL draft come April.

If the imposing 6-foot-6, 285-pound edge rusher — who touts seven sacks across seven games — goes that high in the draft, Minnesota will extend its streak of having a player taken in the top 64 picks to seven consecutive years since 2020.

With the college season past its halfway mark, the Pioneer Press asked Gophers head coach P.J. Fleck which players are drawing the most attention from NFL teams.

Minnesota Gophers running back Darius Taylor (1) in the fourth quarter of a NCAA football game against the Nebraska Cornhuskers at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. The Gophers beat the Cornhuskers, 24-6. (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

Fleck mentioned Smith, running back Darius Taylor, wide receiver LeMeke Brockington, tight end Jameson Geers and defensive tackles Deven Eastern and Jalen Logan-Redding.

“Those are usually the top six right away,” Fleck said. “But you get into everybody else.”

Smith and Taylor each have one year of eligibility remaining for 2026, but Smith is not expected to use it. It’s to be determined on Taylor, who is coming off his best game of the season last week when he logged 24 carries for 148 yards and a touchdown in the 24-6 win over then-No. 25 Nebraska.

Fleck then mentioned one Gopher who has received a lot more attention from NFL personnel when they visit the U this year: Devon Williams. The fifth-year linebacker from Dublin, Ohio, leads the team with 56 total tackles and is third with 4 1/2 tackles for lost yards.

“They’re way more curious about Devon Williams now than they were last year, because he’s playing at a very high level right now,” Fleck said. “I think that’s only going to help him.”

Williams sports an above-average overall grade (74.1) from Pro Football Focus; it’s the third highest among U starters behind redshirt junior linebacker linebacker Maverick Baranowski (79.4) and redshirt sophomore safety Kerry Brown (76.0).

In the preseason, Baranowski was among nine Gophers named to the Shrine Bowl 1,000 watch list for top draft-eligible college players. That long list also had Smith, Taylor, Eastern and Geers. Junior offensive lineman Greg Johnson also made the group, which included some surprises in offensive lineman Marcellus Marshall, linebacker Jeff Roberson and Jaylen Bowden.

Marshall has not played well this season, while Roberson and Bowden have rarely played at all.

Eastern was the U’s only member of the Senior Bowl’s Top 300, but PFF has given him an average overall grade (61.9) in 249 of the U’s 427 total snaps. Logan-Redding has been below that mark (54.3) in 174 total snaps.

The NFL’s draft-content complex has boomed in recent years, but Fleck said each player’s NFL draft stock still comes down to one thing.

“What people don’t realize is 90 to 95% of where and how you get drafted and if you play in the NFL is all based on college film,” Fleck said. “I think some people think it has to do with the (scouting) combine or ‘if I don’t get hurt’ or ‘if I just get through.’

“That’s why they always say, ‘tape doesn’t lie.’ Ten percent of it gets divided. Maybe 5% is the combine. Two percent is the interview, another 2% your Pro Day. And then another 1% is something else, but that’s it. Ninety percent of what you do and how you do it (is) all based on that film for 12 (games), who you play against and how well you play. I think that a lot of people don’t understand that.”

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