NEW YORK, 27 JAN

A New York jury has decided Donald Trump should pay $83.3m (£65m) for defaming columnist E Jean Carroll in 2019 while he was US president.

The penalty in the civil trial is made up of $18.3m for compensatory damages and $65m in punitive damages. Trump was found in a previous civil case to have defamed Ms Carroll and sexually assaulted her in the 1990s. He vowed to appeal the latest ruling, calling the case a witch hunt and the verdict "absolutely ridiculous".

In the latest trial, the jury was only required to decide how much compensation, if any, should be awarded to Carroll. The compensatory damages are meant to account for the harm that the jury found his comments had done to her reputation and emotional wellbeing.

The panel also had to come up with a punitive penalty intended to stop Mr Trump from continuing to speak out against her. It took the jury of seven men and two women less than three hours to reach a verdict on Friday afternoon.

Trump, who looks likely to be the Republican candidate in November's presidential election, also faces four criminal cases for a total of 91 felony counts. He is the first president in US history to be charged with a crime, but has pleaded not guilty or denied all the charges.

"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," Ms Carroll said in a statement after the jury's decision on Friday. 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 former presidents."

Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, or even that he has ever met Ms Carroll, including on Friday morning. BBC News