International Desk:

A federal court jury ordered Donald Trump to pay a total of $83.3m (£65.6m) for defaming the writer E Jean Carroll while he was president in 2019.  The jury in his defamation trial said he must pay $18.3m in compensation damages for emotional and reputational harm, and $65m in punitive damages.

Carroll called it a “huge defeat for every bully who has tried to keep a woman down”. Trump called the outcome “Absolutely ridiculous!”

The former president was in court on Friday for closing arguments, but was not in the room when the verdict was read out. A jury in a previous civil fraud trial found Carroll was sexually abused by Trump in the 1990s, but this case was about comments he made in 2019 while he was president

A judge had already ruled Trump’s statements were defamatory and the jury’s job was to decide how much he should pay. Trump denied any wrongdoing. The case is one of several legal issues unfolding against Trump while he campaigns for the Republican presidential nomination.

Trump won the Republican presidential primary in New Hampshire earlier this week. He also recently won the Iowa caucuses, even as he faces multiple lawsuits and four criminal indictments. In May, a civil jury in New York found that Trump sexually abused and defamed Carroll, and awarded her a combined $5 million in damages, a finding Trump has appealed. The former president said he will appeal the latest verdict as well.