Ron DeSantis heads to early primary state Iowa as Republican 2024 race heats up – live

• Governor not expected to formally announce candidacy yet
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Good morning US politics followers! We’ve made it to Friday and our final blog of the week, but there’s plenty still to talk about.

The race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination heats up today, with Florida governor and bestselling author Ron DeSantis visiting the early primary state of Iowa for two public appearances and a round of meetings with lawmakers and other influential senior party figures.

The fallout from this week’s airing on Fox News of skewed footage from the January 6 Capitol attack continues, with Lachlan Murdoch, son of the embattled Fox empire owner Rupert Murdoch, raising eyebrows over his defense of the network.

Mitch McConnell remains in hospital recovering from concussion after a fall at a dinner in Washington DC on Wednesday night. Joe Biden says he’s spoken to the family of the 81-year-old Republican Senate minority leader, and says “he’s gonna be alright”.

There’s growing retirement speculation over the future of another Senate veteran, 81-year-old progressive Bernie Sanders, who has represented Vermont as an independent since 2007.

There’s good economic news for Biden, one day after the president unveiled his budget proposals. The US added 311,000 jobs in February, a higher than expected figure.