Former US President Donald Trump filed an appeal Thursday against a Manhattan federal court verdict that accused him of sexually assaulting and defaming author Elizabeth Jean Carroll nearly three decades ago, awarding the plaintiff $5 million in damages.

Carroll, 79, sued Trump in 2022, accusing him of raping her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s, then defaming her by claiming he made up the story to sell her memoir.

The jury (six men and three women) charged Donald Trump with defamation and sexual assault – not rape.

Until the appeal is heard, the Republican tycoon is not required to pay the damages awarded to 79-year-old Carroll.