NEW YORK — An appeals court has upheld a $5 million verdict against Donald Trump for sexually abusing and defaming magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.

A three-judge panel at the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan ruled Monday that Judge Lewis Kaplan didn’t get it wrong when he allowed two other women accusing Trump of sexual misconduct to take the stand, and let the jury hear the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape.

Carroll accused Trump of raping her in the dressing room in a Bergdorf Goodman changing room and defaming her on Truth Social after his presidency.

A nine-person jury in May 2023 didn’t find Trump liable for rape, but it found him liable for sexual abuse and defamation.

In January, a second jury that only considered damages determined Trump owed Carroll an additional $83.3 million for the comments he made as president, which accused her of lying about the assault to sell a book. Trump is also appealing that verdict.

Carroll, a longtime advice columnist, testified for almost three days at the 2003 trial, recounted the attack, and the death threats and abuse she’d faced after speaking out.

She and Trump bumped into each other by the Fifth Ave. luxury department store’s revolving doors, she testified, and he invited her to help him pick out lingerie for an unnamed girlfriend. When they reached the changing rooms on an unoccupied floor, Trump closed the door, pushed her against a wall, and started kissing her without consent.

Carroll testified Trump became increasingly violent and molested her with his hand before pulling down her tights and raping her.

Jurors determined Carroll’s lawyers did not prove by a majority of the evidence that Trump raped her, though they found he forcibly penetrated her with his fingers.

The case was among the first filed under the Adult Survivors Act, historic legislation lifting the statute of limitations to bring sex assault claims for one year.