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, Paralel.Az reports citing BBC/

The penalty in the civil trial is made up of $18.3m for compensatory damages and $65m in punitive damages.

Mr 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!"

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.

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

A civil trial last year found he sexually assaulted Ms Carroll, a magazine columnist, in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in the 1990s.

That jury also found him liable of defamation for calling her accusations a lie - and he was ordered to pay her about $5m in damages.

The case that ended on Friday focused on different defamatory comments by Mr Trump in 2019.

During closing arguments earlier on Friday, a lawyer for Ms Carroll told the court her reputation had been severely harmed by the former president's comments denying he sexually assaulted her.

Mr Trump faces four criminal cases for a total of 91 felony counts, and is the first president in US history to be charged with a crime.

He has repeatedly claimed the various legal cases he faces are being orchestrated by allies of US President Joe Biden, a Democrat.

As the Republican party's White House frontrunner, Mr Trump looks set for a rematch against Mr Biden in the November 2024 general election.