NEW YORK: A US federal court has upheld a civil judgement against US President-elect Donald Trump for sexual abuse, a court document published on Monday showed, reported German news agency (dpa).

A New York jury had deemed it proven last year that Trump had attacked, sexually abused and later defamed US author E. Jean Carroll in a prestigious New York department store in 1996. He was ordered to pay compensation totalling US$5 million. Trump subsequently filed an appeal.

The real-estate entrepreneur, who was not yet active as a politician in the mid-1990s, has consistently denied the allegation.

While the criminal charges had already expired, the then 81-year-old Carroll could still pursue civil action.

In 2023, the jury classified the incident as sexual abuse but did not find Carroll's accusation of rape by Trump to be substantiated.

The federal court in New York has now rejected the appeal by Trump, who is set to begin his second term as US president on Jan 20. It stated that the 78-year-old could not prove that the district court made an error in its judgement. Additionally, his rights had not been infringed to the extent that a new trial would be justified.

The court also found the inclusion of testimonies from women who had accused Trump of sexual misconduct in the civil trial to be justified, as well as the use of an old audio recording in which Trump made lewd and degrading remarks about women. All this, they said, demonstrated a pattern of behaviour.

-- BERNAMA