Trump ordered to pay $83.3M to Carroll in defamation case

A US jury has awarded an additional $83.3 million to former advice columnist E. Jean Carroll, who argued former president Donald Trump damaged her reputation by calling her a liar after she accused him of sexual assault.

The jury on Friday reached its decision after slightly less than three hours of deliberations. Trump made multiple comments about Carroll while he was president, demeaning her in the wake of her allegation of assault.

Another jury last May found Trump liable for sexual abuse and ordered him to pay $5 million.

This defamation trial was over things Trump said about Carroll while he was president.

'Absolutely ridiculous,' says Trump

It was the second time in nine months that a jury returned a verdict related to Carroll’s claim that a flirtatious, chance encounter with Trump in 1996 at a Bergdorf Goodman store ended violently.

The verdict was delivered by a seven-man, two-woman jury in a trial regularly attended by Trump, who abruptly left the courtroom during closing arguments by Carroll's lawyer, only to later return.

Carroll smiled as the verdict was read. By then, Trump had left the building in his motorcade.

"Absolutely ridiculous!" Trump said in a statement shortly after the verdict was announced. He vowed an appeal. "Our Legal System is out of control, and being used as a Political Weapon."