New York jury has decided that Donald Trump should pay $83.3 million (£65m) for defamation when he was the American president in 2019.
The damages were awarded for compensatory damages of $18.3m and punitive damages of $65m.
Mr. Trump has faced a lawsuit for alleged sexual assault against columnist E. Jean Carroll in the 1990s and his previous lawsuit has been found in a civil case.
He has promised to appeal against the latest verdict, calling the case a “witch hunt” and the verdict “absolutely hilarious!”
Compensatory damages are money awarded for damages that the jury has seen fit for his statements to her reputation and mental health.
Mr. Trump had to bring a punitive punishment to the panel to refrain from speaking against the panel.
Seven men and two women juries took less than three hours to reach a verdict on Friday evening.
Mrs. Carroll said in a statement, “It is a great victory for every woman who has stood up when she was pushed and a huge defeat for every attacker who tried to bring a woman down.”
Her attorney, Robbie Kaplan, said in a statement, “Today’s verdict proves that the law applies to everyone in our country, even the rich, even the famous, even the former presidents.”
Before the trial, Judge Lewis Kaplan (no relation to the plaintiff’s attorney) advised the judges not to use each other’s real names because of the sensitive nature of the case.
At the end of the trial, he advised them to discuss their experiences independently. However, he added that they should not tell anyone that they worked on this case.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, even though he has never seen Mrs. Carroll, even on Friday morning.
But after the verdict, he refrained from directly attacking her in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“I fully disagree with both verdicts,” he wrote, “and will apply for a Biden-directed witch hunt against me and my Republican Party. “Our legal system is out of control, and is being used as a political weapon. They have taken away all rights of the first amendment. This is not America!”
Last year, a civil trial revealed that he had sexually assaulted Mrs. Carroll in the dressing room of the Bergdorf Goodman department store in the 1990s.
That jury thought he was liable for defamation for calling her allegations lies and ordered him to pay almost $5 million in compensatory damages.
Friday’s trial focused on various defamatory comments by Mr. Trump in 2019.
Mr. Trump, who abruptly quit court at the start of the day with a detailed description of his Secret Service security, was absent from the trial.
Judge Kaplan threatened to send him to jail for contempt of court after telling his lawyer Alina Habba to remain silent, and shortly afterwards, he left.
“You’re in the twilight zone of lockdown. Sit down,” he told Mrs. Habba. Judge had previously threatened to eject Mr. Trump when he vibrated and muttered “can job” and “witch hunt” in court. Before reading the verdict, the judge warned: “We will have no outbursts.”
At the start of the trial, one of Mrs. Carroll’s attorneys told the court that the former president had suffered a reputation of death because of his refusal to accept her sexual assault allegations.
“This case is about giving Donald Trump a taste of his own medicine… this trial is about stopping him once and for all,” he said.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers argued that Mrs. Carroll should not receive any further compensation because her allegations had already “damned more than the swamp of the Swiss Ponzi scheme.”
Mrs. Habba said that Mrs. Carroll’s threat received more punishment than her client.
Mr. Trump faces four federal lawsuits for a total of 91 criminal counts and is the first president in American history to be charged with a crime.
