Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa clears concussion protocol and will start vs. Cardinals

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa has cleared the NFL's concussion protocol and will play against the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday, his first start since being concussed in Week 2.

The team designated Tagovailoa to return to practice on Monday after he spent about a month on injured reserve after suffering the third known concussion of his NFL career on Sept. 12.

Tagovailoa has since met with numerous medical experts who deemed it safe for him to play, according to the team. He needed to clear the NFL's five-step return-to-play process, which came after he participated in practices and took contact without exhibiting concussion symptoms.

Tagovailoa was examined after Thursday's practice by an independent neurological consultant, who cleared him to play Sunday, coach Mike McDaniel said.

“Words can't describe how excited I get for all players that have opportunities that I know they don't take for granted," McDaniel said Friday. "It's very exciting from a human perspective as a coach for this team.”

Tagovailoa was concussed when he collided with Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin. He ran for a first down and initiated contact by lowering his shoulder into Hamlin instead of sliding. Tagovailoa said Monday that he has been symptom-free since a day after being diagnosed with the concussion.

He has a history of head injuries since entering the NFL. He was diagnosed with two concussions in 2022 and suffered another scary hit to the head that led to changes in the NFL’s concussion rules.

Tagovailoa has traveled across the country the past month meeting with medical experts who spoke with him about his concussion history, the Dolphins said. No doctor recommended that he retire, and the decision to return to the game was made with his doctors and family, the team said.

Tagovailoa said he wouldn't wear a Guardian Cap — an optional, protective soft-shell helmet cover — in what he called a “personal choice.” Tagovailoa already wears a quarterback-specific helmet designed to help reduce head injuries.

Quarterback Tyler Huntley, who started the past three games for the Dolphins, was placed on injured reserve Friday because of a shoulder injury. Miami's other quarterbacks are Skylar Thompson, Tim Boyle and C.J. Beathard.

Also Friday, the Dolphins signed receiver Dee Eskridge to the active roster off their practice squad and signed defensive tackle Matt Dickerson to the practice squad.

Defensive tackle Zach Sieler was poked in the eye at Thursday's practice and will miss Sunday's game, McDaniel said, adding that he doesn't know when Sieler will play again.

Safety Jevon Holland is expected to play Sunday after missing last week with a hand injury.

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Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel takes questions during a news conference, Monday, Oct. 21, 2024, at the Dolphins training facility in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) smiles during a practice session at the team's training facility, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) watches Tim Boyle during a practice session at the team's training facility, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) aims the ball during a practice session at the team's training facility, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel speaks during a news conference at the team's training facility, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa (1) aims a pass during a practice session at the team's training facility, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/Marta Lavandier)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Stacey Williams is accusing former President Donald Trump of groping her at Trump Tower in early 1993 as disgraced hedge fund manager Jeffrey Epstein watched.

The former model initially made the allegation on Monday during a video chat of sexual violence survivors supporting Vice President Kamala Harris ' campaign. In an interview Friday with The Associated Press, she described walking down New York City's Fifth Avenue with Epstein, whom she was seeing at the time, when he suggested they visit Trump in his namesake tower.

As soon as Trump saw her, she said, he “had his arms around me and pulled me into him.”

“Then he started groping me. He started rubbing his hands up and down my body. He touched my breasts. He touched my waist. He touched my butt,” she said. “And while his hands are on me, he’s continuing to have a conversation with Jeffrey who is, you know, standing across from us. And I just froze. I was so confused.”

Karoline Leavitt, a Trump spokeswoman, called the allegations “unequivocally false” and argued they were politically motivated.

The organizer of the Survivors for Kamala video call said this week’s meeting was not affiliated with the Harris campaign and was an outside gathering of sexual violence survivors and advocate organizations. The Harris campaign declined Friday to comment on the allegations. And Williams said while she is voting for Harris, she has not had any contact with the Democrat’s campaign or knowingly had contact with people associated with her run.

The allegation is the latest in a lengthy list of accusations made against Trump, including by E. Jean Carroll, who has been locked in a legal battle with the businessman-turned-president after a jury found him liable in 2023 for sexually assaulting the advice columnist in 1996 and later for defaming her. The allegations against Trump go back decades and include those described in the “Access Hollywood” tape, a 2005 video made public weeks before the 2016 election that showed the then-reality television star bragging about grabbing, forcibly kissing and sexually assaulting women.

In the interview, Williams said the encounter with Trump “felt orchestrated," like she got “walked in there for that moment and they both knew exactly what they were doing.”

“I was just like this, you know, thing to be played with over some sort of twisted game or a bet or something,” she added.

At the time of the alleged incident, Trump was in his mid-40s, while Williams was in her mid-20s. Williams said she recalled “an assistant who had walked by a couple of times” and whom she had been introduced to, but the encounter was primarily just her, Trump and Epstein. In total, she said, the encounter lasted around “about five minutes, maybe a little longer, definitely less than 10 minutes. ”

While Epstein was conversational and said nothing to Trump in the moment, Williams recalls his “energy” changing when they got in the elevator to leave.

“He wasn’t making eye contact with me. He seemed like he was seething, like he was really angry,” she said. “And my heart was still pounding and I was still confused.”

When the two got to the street, she said: “The first thing he said was, ‘Why did you let him do that?’ And he berated me. ... Of course, I immediately then felt ashamed."

The two went in different directions after that encounter — “I went downtown, he went uptown,” she said — and it was then that Williams said she really began to absorb what happened.

On the call earlier in the week, Williams added that “not long after” that meeting in Trump Tower she received a postcard from Trump. Williams said her agent received the postcard, via courier, from Trump.

Williams' team provided the AP with images of the postcard. One side is a photo of Palm Beach and Mar-a-Lago, the former president’s resort in Florida, and the other side is writing allegedly from Trump. “Stacey, your home away from home. Love, Donald,” reads the postcard.

Williams said her encounter with Trump was the third — and final — time she had met Trump. The two had met earlier at a Christmas party that the businessman had thrown in 1992, but after their encounter in early 1993, the model had “such an aversion to running into him after that. I never wanted to be around him again, ever.” Williams said she saw Epstein “one or two more times" after the 1993 encounter with Trump.

Although Trump has sought to distance himself from Epstein in recent years, he told New York Magazine in 2002 that he had known “Jeff” for 15 years.

“Terrific guy,” Trump told the magazine. “He’s a lot of fun to be with. It is even said that he likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side. No doubt about it — Jeffrey enjoys his social life.”

Williams said that when the “Access Hollywood” tape came out, she thought, “Finally everyone’s going to find out what a freaky guy this is, that he does stuff like this.”

“I had an urge to sort of tell the story. But, you know, as the mother of a young child, I wasn’t going to bring that into my life,” she said Friday.

When Trump went on to win the election, however, Williams said she was “sickened.”

“It was beyond beyond comprehension ... just like we are in the upside down,” she said.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a Turning Point Action campaign rally, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Duluth, Ga. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a faith town hall with Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones at Christ Chapel Zebulon, Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024, in Zebulon, Ga. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)