After the decision was announced, E. Jean Carroll and her lawyers locked hands as they stood for the jury to exit, and multiple jurors appeared to nod toward them as they left the courtroom for the final time.

Carroll and her lawyers immediately broke into a group hug as soon as Kaplan dismissed the parties.

Trump's defense team promptly exited the courtroom once they were dismissed, and his attorney Alina Habba thanked the court's staff for their service.

Shortly after Judge Kaplan's deputy read the verdict, the judge thanked the jury for their service and offered them a suggestion about interacting with the media.

"My advice to you is that you never disclose that you were on this jury, and I won't say anything more about it," Kaplan told the jury.

Writing on his social media platform, former President Trump called the $83 million decision "Absolutely ridiculous!" and said he will appeal.

The former president was not in the courtroom when the decision was announced.

Former President Donald Trump must pay writer E. Jean Carroll $83.3 million for defaming her in 2019 after she accused him of sexually assaulting her in a department store in the 1990s.

The jury determined that Trump must pay $18.3 million in compensatory damages and $65 million in punitive damages.

Carroll had sought at least $12 million for reputation repair, plus additional compensatory and punitive damages.

A separate jury last year found Trump liable for sexually assaulting then defaming Carroll, awarding her $5 million in damages.

The current jury of nine New Yorkers -- including a former schoolteacher, a transit worker, and a property manager -- rendered a verdict after deliberating for just under three hours.

The jury in former President Donald Trump's defamation damages case has reached a verdict.

The judge has called the parties back into the courtroom to hear the verdict read.

The jury will announce whether they have found E. Jean Carroll suffered damages as a result of Trump's statements, and, if so, how much they award Carroll in both compensatory and punitive damages.

The direct examination of E. Jean Carroll ended with her telling the jury she would "never get used to attacks" like the ones she has continued to endure from former President Trump and his followers.

"Was he posting about you as recently as yesterday? Carroll's attorney Roberta Kaplan asked regarding Trump.

"That's what I've been told," Carroll answered before she was shown a Truth Social post from Tuesday, during the lunch break, in which Trump called the trial a "fake case from a woman I've never met, seen or touched."

The cross-examination of Carroll began on a discordant note when defense attorney Alina Habba tried to confront Carroll with some of her testimony from an earlier deposition.

There was a dispute over whether Habba had properly told the judge which part of the deposition she intended to introduce.

"We're going to do it my way, Ms. Habba," Judge Kaplan said.

"Sure," Habba replied, abandoning that line of questioning.