A New York jury has ordered former US President Donald Trump to pay over $83 million in damages for defamation to writer E. Jean Carroll. The case centered on Carroll's claim that Trump defamed her after she accused him of sexually abusing her in 1996 in a dressing room in Bergdorf Goodman, a luxury department store in Manhattan. The jury's penalty in the civil trial is made up of $18.3m for compensatory damages and $65m in punitive damages. Mr. Trump, who denied the accusations, made multiple statements in recent years casting aspersions on Carroll's character.

Carroll's lawyers had sought over $10 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Donald Trump stormed out of the New York court after the closing arguments, leaving moments after Judge Lewis Kaplan threatened to jail his lawyer, Alina Habba, for continuing to speak after he had told her to be quiet. The former president was previously found liable for sexually assaulting Carroll in a department store dressing room and defaming her in 2022 when he called her a complete con job. Ms. Carroll said in a statement after the verdict, "This is a great victory for every woman who stands up when she's been knocked down, and a huge defeat for every bully who has tried to keep a woman down."

Her attorney, Robbie Kaplan, said, "Today's verdict proves that the law applies to everyone in our country, even the rich, even the famous, even former presidents." Mr. Trump vowed to appeal, calling the case a witch hunt and the verdict "Absolutely ridiculous!" He refrained from attacking her directly when he slammed the outcome of the case on his social media platform, Truth Social, writing, "I fully disagree with both verdicts, and will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party." Amid the ongoing legal battles, Trump appears to be gearing up for another run at the White House in November 2024.

The case is seen as a significant victory for Carroll, with legal experts pointing to the substantial amount of damages as a way to compel Mr. Trump to stop defaming her. An earlier jury had found him liable in a separate case but ordered him to pay her about $5m in damages. The hefty penalty may serve to send a message to Mr. Trump that his defamatory comments will not go unpunished.