A federal judge on Wednesday rejected Donald Trump's request for a new trial after a jury found the former U.S. president liable for sexually abusing and defaming the writer E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million.

In a 59-page decision, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan also dismissed Trump's arguments for reducing damages to less than $1 million.

Kaplan said the unanimous May 9 verdict was "almost entirely in favor of Ms. Carroll" and neither a "seriously erroneous result" nor a "miscarriage of justice."

Trump, who is also the Republican presidential candidate, appealed the decision, adding it to his earlier appeal of the jury verdict. His lawyer did not respond to requests for comment.

Carroll, 79, accused Trump, 77, of raping her in a Manhattan department store dressing room in the mid-1990s and defaming her in an October 2022 social media post when he branded the incident a "Hoax and a lie" and said Carroll was not his "type."

She is also pursuing a $10 million defamation lawsuit against Trump over similar comments in June 2019, after she first accused him of forcing himself upon her in the Bergdorf Goodman store. A trial is scheduled for January 15, 2024.

In a separate legal setback for Trump on Wednesday, another judge rejected his bid to move a criminal case against him involving a hush-money payment to a porn star to federal court from a New York state court.

Trump faces many other legal problems as well, including a federal indictment over classified documents he took from the White House and possible charges over his efforts to remain president after his 2020 election loss.

(With input from Reuters)