US court rejects Trump appeal in Carroll sex abuse case

US President Donald Trump has failed in his attempt to have a sexual abuse ruling against him reviewed by the Supreme Court.

The justices on Monday rejected Trump's bid to overturn a $US5 million ($A7.3 million) verdict in favour of E Jean Carroll in a case in which a jury found him liable for sexually abusing the former magazine columnist and then defaming her.

In 2023, a New York jury deemed it proven that Trump had attacked, sexually abused and later defamed Carroll in a prestigious New York department store in 1996.

Trump was ordered to pay $US5 million in compensation.

Trump has been battling Carroll, a former advice columnist for Elle magazine, ever since she published an excerpt from her memoir in 2019 in which she alleged that Trump had raped her around 1996 in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room in Manhattan.

Trump denied Carroll's claims, saying she lied about the accusations both in 2019 while he was still serving his first term as president, and again in 2022 when he was out of office.

Trump expressed disappointment in the Supreme Court's decision not to hear the appeal and called Carroll's lawsuit "a Fake Case".

"I will continue the fight against this Weaponization and Lawfare Case against me, including the ridiculous claim of Defamation, with all of my power and strength. This Case is really against the United States of America, and all it stands for, and should never be allowed to happen to another President, or Candidate to be!" Trump wrote on social media.

Roberta Kaplan, Carroll's lawyer, said in a statement that the Supreme Court had affirmed "once and for all the jury's unanimous verdict" that Trump sexually assaulted and defamed Carroll.

"His multiple efforts to appeal that verdict have all failed, and today's ruling ends his quest to avoid accountability for his actions," Kaplan said.

Trump's Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation targeting Carroll, as it has against several other adversaries of the Republican president. The investigation, disclosed in May, was focused on whether Carroll committed perjury in testimony tied to the two civil lawsuits that she won against Trump.

The case that led to the $US5 million verdict concerned Trump's statements in 2022 when he called Carroll's claim a "hoax" and a "con job" in a post on social media. "This woman is not my type!" Trump added in the post.

with Reuters