HOUSTON, United States

A federal appeals court on Monday upheld a New York jury's verdict from last year holding Donald Trump accountable in the $5 million defamation case of E. Jean Carroll, according to media outlets.

The president-elect was found liable by the New York jury in May 2023 for sexually abusing Carroll, a former Elle magazine writer, in the dressing room of a Bergdorf Goodman luxury department store in the mid-1990s and for subsequently defaming her when she came forward with her story during Trump's first term in office.

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said in an unsigned opinion that Trump must still be held accountable for the original judgement.

"We conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings," said the three-judge panel in its opinion. "Further, he has not carried his burden to show that any claimed error or combination of claimed errors affected his substantial rights as required to warrant a new trial."

Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, issued a statement following the judgement, praising the appeals court's ruling.

"Both E. Jean Carroll and I are gratified by today's decision," said Kaplan. "We thank the Second Circuit for its careful consideration of the parties' arguments."

The ruling means that Trump is still on the hook for the $5 million that was awarded to Carroll, barring further appeals from the president-elect, which his spokesperson, Steven Cheung, indicated would be the case moving forward.

"The American People have re-elected President Trump with an overwhelming mandate, and they demand an immediate end to the political weaponization of our justice system and a swift dismissal of all of the Witch Hunts, including the Democrat-funded Carroll Hoax, which will continue to be appealed," Cheung Told Fox News in a statement.

Regardless of whether there are further appeals by Trump in this case, the president-elect's legal battles with Carroll are not over.

In a separate civil suit, Trump was also ordered by a jury to pay Carroll more than $80 million in damages for defamatory statements he made about her during his first term in the White House. An appeal of that decision is still pending.