A jury in New York has ordered former US President Donald Trump to pay 83.3 million dollars in damages to the writer E. Jean Carroll for defaming her after she accused him of sexual assault.

Jurors in federal court in Manhattan handed down the verdict on Friday.

In 2019, when Trump was US president, Carroll published a memoir in which she accused him of raping her in the 1990s in a department store dressing room.

Trump repeatedly claimed she was lying and made up the accusation to sell her book. In a civil trial in May last year, Trump was ordered to pay Carroll 5 million dollars in damages for sexual abuse and defamation. Her legal team this time was seeking at least 24 million dollars in damages.

Trump slammed Friday's verdict in a social media post, saying that it was "absolutely ridiculous" and that he fully disagrees with both verdicts.

He also wrote that he "will be appealing this whole Biden Directed Witch Hunt focused on me and the Republican Party."

Trump faces four criminal trials as well as a civil case while he campaigns for the White House.