GOP senators refrain from direct criticism of billionaire who has been on destructive rampage through federal offices

• US politics live – latest updates

Some Republican senators have begun voicing muted alarm over Elon Musk’s aggressive intrusion into the US federal government, which has triggered Democrat accusations of a coup.

Musk has provoked opposition outrage after forcing access to the government’s payments and personnel system for his self-styled “department of government efficiency”(Doge), a body established by Donald Trump ostensibly to target waste and save money but which lacks congressional authority or oversight.