The woman accusing Judge Brett Kavanaugh, Donald Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court, of sexually assaulting her is willing to tell her story in public to a Senate panel, her lawyer said.

Mr Kavanaugh had been on a smooth confirmation track, but the new allegations have distracted from that process.

Republican senators have expressed concern over a woman’s private-turned-public allegation that a drunken Kavanaugh groped her and tried to take off her clothes at a party when they were teenagers.

Debra S Katz, the lawyer for the woman, Christine Blasey Ford, said her client considered the incident to be an attempted rape.

“She believes that if were not for the severe intoxication of Brett Kavanaugh, she would have been raped,” Ms Katz told NBC.

Mr Kavanaugh has “categorically and unequivocally” denied the allegations, a statement the White House repeated on Monday.

“This has not changed,” said White House spokesman Kerri Kupec. “Judge Kavanaugh and the White House both stand by that statement.”

In morning television interviews, Ms Katz said her client was willing to tell her story in public to the Senate Judiciary Committee, although no politicians or their aides had yet contacted her.

Ms Katz also denied that Ms Ford, a Democrat, is politically motivated.

“No one in their right mind regardless of their motives would want to inject themselves into this process and face the kind of violation that she will be subjected to by those who want this nominee to go though. … She was quite reluctant to come forward.”

Initially the sexual misconduct allegation was conveyed in a private letter, without revealing Ms Ford’s name.

With a name and disturbing details, the accusation raised the prospect of congressional Republicans defending President Donald Trump’s nominee ahead of midterm elections featuring an unprecedented number of female candidates and informed in part by the #MeToo movement.

The GOP-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee appeared committed to a vote later this week, despite Ms Ford’s account in The Washington Post.

Mr Kavanaugh, she told the Post, pinned her to a bed at a Maryland party in the early 1980s, clumsily tried to remove her clothing and put his hand over her mouth when she tried to scream.

Mr Kavanaugh attended a private school for boys in Maryland while Ms Ford attended a nearby school.

Through the White House, Mr Kavanaugh, 53, a federal appeals judge in Washington, said: “I categorically and unequivocally deny this allegation. I did not do this back in high school or at any time.”