Former US president Donald Trump has filed a notice of appeal after a federal jury in Manhattan found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E Jean Carroll, and awarded her $US5 million ($7.5 million) in damages.

It came as Carroll’s lawyer flagged further action against Mr Trump after his inflammatory comments about her allegations at a rowdy town hall broadcast by CNN on Thursday.

Carroll, 79, sued Mr Trump, 76, in 2022 with her allegation that he raped her in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room in the mid-1990s, and then defamed her by denying it happened.

Following a two-week trial, on Tuesday the jury found Mr Trump liable in the civil case for abuse and defamation but not rape, after just under three hours of deliberations.

Mr Trump’s lawyer Joseph Tacopina had previously said he would appeal the verdict.

Mr Trump’s notice of appeal to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals was filed on Thursday, hours after US District Judge Lewis Kaplan issued a ruling awarding Carroll the judgment and closing the case.

Earlier, in his closing argument in the case, Mr Tacopina had said he knew Mr Trump was a divisive figure, but told the jury that wasn’t relevant to their verdict.

“People have very strong feelings about Donald Trump. That’s obvious,” he said.

“There’s a time and a secret place to do that: it’s called a ballot box during an election.”

In a televised town hall on Wednesday, Mr Trump made several disparaging comments about Carroll that elicited applause and laughter from the audience of New Hampshire Republicans and independent voters who plan to vote in the state’s Republican primary.

“This is a fake story. Made-up story,” he said of Carroll’s allegations, adding “I have no idea who the hell she is. She’s a whack job.

“What kind of a woman meets somebody and brings them up and within minutes you’re playing hanky panky in a dressing room?”

Carroll’s lawyer Roberta Kaplan said she might sue the former president again after the comments.

Ms Kaplan told The New York Times she was considering whether to pursue a third defamation lawsuit against Mr Trump.

“Everything’s on the table, obviously, and we have to give serious consideration to it,” Ms Kaplan said.

“We have to weigh the various pros and cons and we’ll come to a decision in the next day or so, probably.”

Caroll told the NY Times she was asleep during the CNN broadcast. She said Ms Kaplan said her a transcript but she read only the first paragraph.

“It’s just stupid, it’s just disgusting, vile, foul, it wounds people,” Carroll said.

-with AAP