A federal appeals court has upheld the $5 million award President-elect Donald Trump must pay writer E. Jean Carroll for her sexual abuse lawsuit.

A written opinion issued Monday by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied Mr. Trump’s challenge of the award by a Manhattan jury that found Mr. Trump liable for sexually abusing Ms. Carrol in a department store dressing room in the 1990s.

“We conclude that Mr. Trump has not demonstrated that the district court erred in any of the challenged rulings. 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,” the judges wrote in a written opinion.

Roberta Kaplan, the lawyer who represented Ms. Carroll during the trial, said she and Ms. Carroll “are gratified by today’s decision. We thank the Second Circuit for its careful consideration of the parties’ arguments.”

In January, Ms. Carroll was awarded another $83.3 million in damages for comments Mr. Trump made while he was president in 2019.

Mr. Trump did not attend the first trial. He insists the events described by Ms. Carroll never happened, and he has no idea who Ms. Carroll was before her lawsuit.

He testified during the second trial. He is also appealing the second defamation case judgment.

In the opinion, the judges said the two women who claimed they had similar encounters with Mr. Trump “show a pattern.”

“In each of the three encounters, Mr. Trump engaged in an ordinary conversation with a woman he barely knew, then abruptly lunged at her in a semi-public place and proceeded to kiss and forcefully touch her without her consent,” the judges said.

In a statement, Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said the case “will continue to be appealed.”

“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,” he said.

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.