sieve. you didn t see a lot of drama or palace intrigue. what you saw was surgical execution day after day after day. ron desantis taking a not so subtle jab at former president donald trump. the florida governor s book tour is bringing more attention to the 2024 gop presidential race even though he s not yet officially a candidate. also ahead, the latest on the kidnapping of four americans in mexico and why officials think the group was ambushed right after crossing the border. plus, we ll have expert analysis on the major fight happening right now in ukraine as both sides battle over the city of bakhmut. good morning and welcome to way too early on this tuesday, march 7th. i m jonathan lemire, and thanks for starting your day with us. we ll begin here as election deniers are claiming victory this morning after three more republican led states announced that they re pulling out of a national bipartisan program that helps protect against voter fraud. election official
credit, which, you know, in the past he had been loathe to do. that s been the great concern here among some republicans that even those who have really opposed trump and said, hey, it s time for change, time for future, maybe that s desantis, maybe tim scott, whoever that might be, but they ll fall back in line if trump looks like he s going to be the guy in the party again. talk to us about that dynamsquk if there s concerns like in 2016 they ll all jump back onboard. i don t think there s any question if trump were the nominee republicans would fall in line with that. you saw larry hogan said something, the former maryland governor, seen others say this who are not trump fans. but, you know, again, early on i do love the karl rove back and forth. of course karl rove is a bush family friend, and former
probably ate too many birthday cakes. those infamous eating habits may have caused the blockage doctors found. bush had surgery the next morning to insert a stent to unblock the artery. certainly president bush was at significant risk that doesn t mean he was going to have a heart attack but he was at significant risk of having a heart attack. reporter: a close bush family friend tells cnn the former president is grateful the blockage was found and fixed when it was. bush recently joked about his health in an interview with abc news. other than the fact i nearly bled to death when i nicked myself shaving because i m taking blood thinner, i m doing pretty good. reporter: we should point out aides to bush won t confirm the report and no one said in august back when it happened it was a big concern, even the former first lady kept a scheduled aappearance for a speech in san diego to a travel group instead