Donald Trump sexually abused the magazine writer E Jean Carroll and defamed her, a jury decided on Tuesday night, ordering the former US President to pay her $5 million in damages.

However, the civil jury in New York rejected the writer’s claim that Trump raped her.

It was another legal setback for the former US President as he seeks the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

Responding to the verdict on his Truth Social app, Trump said: “I have absolutely no idea who this woman is.”

He said the jury’s ruling was a “disgrace” and called it “the greatest witch hunt of all time”.

Trump later added: “VERY UNFAIR TRIAL!”

Carroll, 79, bowed her head and nodded when the decision was read while holding hands with her lawyer.

She did not speak as she left the court but smiled broadly, later saying in a statement: “I filed this lawsuit against Donald Trump to clear my name and to get my life back.

“Today, the world finally knows the truth. This victory is not just for me but for every woman who has suffered because she was not believed.”

The nine-member jury in Manhattan federal court rejected Trump’s denial that he assaulted Carroll and ruled in her favour.

To find him liable, the jury of six men and three women was required to reach a unanimous verdict, which they did in less than three hours.

Trump was ordered to pay $2 million (£1.58 million) in damages for sexual abuse, and $3 million for defamation.

A spokesman for Trump, 76, said he would appeal and would not pay the damages while the appeal was ongoing.

Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina said outside the court that his client would appeal the “perplexing and “inconsistent” verdict. He said: “This was a rape case all along and the jury rejected that.”

He said Trump is “firm in his belief, as many people are, that he cannot get a fair trial in New York City, based on the jury pool.

“He’s strong, he’s ready to move forward, he wants to fight this on appeal.”

Carroll claimed that Trump raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan in either 1995 or 1996.

She argued that he damaged her reputation by writing in a post on Truth Social last October that her claim was a “complete con job”, “a hoax” and “a lie”.

Jurors were given the option of deciding that Trump either raped, sexually abused or forcibly touched Carroll. They decided on “a preponderance of the evidence” that he sexually abused her.

Any one of those findings would have satisfied the claim of battery brought by Carroll.

The Daily Telegraph, London