back on colorado's ballot, but for how long? and will another state soon give him the boot? the new supreme court twist in donald trump's 2024 trials.

and now, the delolmolishing a home in a campus murder, and this is despite some of the victims' families are asking the university to let it stand. and the haters hate this! 2023, it was the year of swift. a recap of taylor's reign. i am swiftie john berman with sara sidner and kate bolduan is off. she is probably grateful she is off so she did not hear that. this is cnn "news central." new this morning, the republican presidential candidate nikki haley is doing some cleanup after criticism of comments of what caused the civil war. haley made headlines after a new hampshire voter called her out for leaving slavery out of the response of his question about

the civil war at a town hall last night. haley told him that the civil war was, quote, about how government was going to run. she appeared on the new hampshire radio show just this morning actually while we were on the air to clarify what she meant. take a listen. >> of course the civil war was about slavery. we know that. that is the easy part of it. what i was saying is what does it mean to us today. what it means today is about freedom. that is what it was all about. >> and cnn's jessica dean here to talk about it, and it is one of the moments that didn't have to happen, and it was a simple answer and yet, here we are. >> and the timing is important, because everyone is starting to pay attention and less than three weeks away from the iowa caucuses and new hampshire is right after and the timing is critical here. and for everyone watching at home, let's go back to last night and set the stage. so she is at a town hall in new hampshire, a state she has been

surging and not only trying to be the alternative to donald trump, but can she beat him here, and voter asked her how the civil war started, and this is how she answered. >> what was the cause of the united states civil war? >> well, don't come with an easy question or anything. i mean, the cause of the civil war was basically how the government was going to run, and the freedoms and what people could and couldn't do. >> okay. that is how she set it up last night, and immediately, sara, there was a -- and we picked it up, and the media picked it up, and struggling and he then said, i can't believe that you didn't say anything about slavery, and she said, what do you want me to say about slavery, and she moved on, and then john berman pointed out that first thing on the radio, she was clarifying, and you played a little, but here is some more. >> the goal is to make sure

that, no, we never go back to the stain of slavery, but what is the lesson in all of that. that every person has the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom to do and be anything they want to be without anyone or government getting in the way, and that is the goal at what that is at. yes, i know it is about slavery. i am from the south, and of course, we know it is about slavery. >> she is the governor of south carolina formerly, and the horrific shooting happened by the white supremists, and she had the confederate flag taken off of the capital grounds. so there is history there. and this voter said they were not political and she wanted to know how the answer compared to when she was running for governor, and today, nikki haley said that the person who was asking the question was a democratic plant, and the bottom line is that this is what she is talking about today when she wants to talk about other things top campaign trail, and for

donald trump who is reminding in the polling double-digits ahead of everybody, and ron desantis is hoping that everybody is taking a second look at him, and chris christie as well. that is the political side of it. >> and even if the person was a democratic plant, the question is the question. it is kind of an easy answer, and it is a rough one that she is having to deal with now. and of course, everyone is talking about it instead of her doing well. she has been doing well. >> right. and they are talking about it, and again, she going to be spending the whole day in new hampshire, and i expect we will be seeing her perhaps on camera talk about this as well, but for her, you want to move forward, and we will see if that is the case. >> jessica dean, thank you very much. >> yes. >> and this morning, it is looking like donald trump is going to be on the colorado presidential primary ballot overall. because the state's republican party asked the u.s. supreme court to overturn a ruling that disqualified trump from being on the ballot, and this is going to

stay the supreme court decision which means that trump is going to be on the ballot, because on january 5th, the election officials will add the candidate names to the colorado primary list, and again, the key date there is january 5th, and it is looking like his name is going to be on the ballot afterall. in maine, donald trump is asking that the secretary of state is going to recuse herself from a similar question, because she gets to decide trump's fate there. katelyn polantz is following all of this, and the big shift overnight, and expected, but the colorado republican party appealing to the supreme court, john. >> that is all they had to do to put on hold that colorado supreme court decision removing trump from the ballot, but that decision is still on the books in colorado, and it is a really big one. it is going into a lot of depth about donald trump being an insurrectionist according to the colorado supreme court, the highest court in that state, and also their decision that they have the ability to remove him

from the primary ballot as the court, as the state, and so, all of those questions are going to be very likely before the supreme court quite soon. the colorado gop is asking for the supreme court to weigh in on this idea that anyone in a position of power like a court or a secretary of state could be removing a candidate from the ballot, and they write in the petition that was filed with the supreme court that the colorado supreme court has removed the leading candidate from the primary and general ballot changing course of american democracy and the significance is not merely political, but legal, and rejecting a long history of precedent, and the supreme court has concluded that the individual litigants and state courts and secretaries of state in all 50 states plus the district of columbia have authority to enforce section 3 of the amendment, and we are in

unchartered territory of the insurrectionist clause doing things with it, and now the supreme court is being asked to set the law of the land. john? >> there are questions out, there and some of which could be answered if the u.s. supreme court weighs in. thank you, caikatelyn polantz. let's discuss this with ben who is on the oregon supreme court. and in colorado, the supreme court said he does not deserve to be on the ballot, because they see him as insurrectionist, but michigan refused that and left the door open for another legal challenge, and how does that case potentially affect the case that you are putting through? >> well, the michigan case is limited to michigan. as you said, they have left the door open, and the sole holdings of the michigan court of the supreme court upheld that as a mt. er of technicality under the michigan law that we believe

they got wrong on the state and the federal law, a challenge could not be made to whether a presidential candidate is qualified before the primary and leaving it open for a challenge after the primary and before the general. that decision has no impact on for example the colorado decision that has held that donald trump may not appear on the primary ballot in colorado, and it has no impact on the issues that are before the supreme court in that petition that the republican party has filed to review that colorado decision. >> okay. so donald trump of course has a lot to say about these lawsuits, and one thing that he is saying over and over again, and this is all based on the politics, and they are trying to take me out of the race and keep me from power, and this is what the people want, and why do you bring these cases, and why is this important to you the bring these cases to court of law? >> this is not based on politics, but law. more specifically, the supreme law of the country the constitution of the united states and more specifically still, section 3 of the 14th

amendment of the constitution. section 3 is quite, quite clear. what it says is that if you take the oath of office to defend the constitution of the constitution and then you violate that oath by engaging in insurrection against the constitution just as donald trump did in inciting the january 6th attack on the capitol, you may not serve or run forth effectively any office, especially the presidency. it does not say especially the presidency, but it stands to reason that if they were concerned about someone who engaged in insurrection having power in our democracy, the last place that you would want such a person is in the presidency of the united states. >> there is when you are looking at the 14th amendment, it does not say if you are convicted, and it is not specific about insurrection, and if the law works in a different way, right, you can see it on paper, and when it is going through the courts, there is precedence in all of that, and how do you see

that playing out, because donald trump and the team are absolutely sure they are going to be on every ballot once the supreme court gets a hold of this which it is likely to weigh in. >> right. and that is the irony of the question that you asked if it is politics, and those are political arguments that he has to be convicted is before he can be excluded and he is so popular and so rich that no court can hold him accountable to keep from being on the ballot. the precedent is clear that no conviction is needed. free speech for people the organization that i work with re-established that precedent against marjorie taylor greene in which the courts held that no conviction is needed, and only the issue is if the person took the oath of office and did they thereafter engage in insurrection, and those are quite clear. everybody saw donald trump take the oath of office on tv and everybody saw donald trump incite and engage in

insurrection on tv. >> and he has not gone to trial for those thing, but you are saying that there is a legal argument that does not require conviction. thank you for coming on to explain this. thank you. >> thank you for having me. >> your turn, john. >> and crews are demolishing a house in idaho which used to be the house where four students were stabbed to death. obviously this house is not going to be used in a physical way in murder trial. the victims' families have been pleading, pleading for an injunction for the house to remain standing. obviously, that did not happen. drivers may have more money in their pockets for the new year, because prices for gas will drop even more on the new year, and more encouraging signs for the economy. and the "new york times" says that the companies responsible for billions of

dollars of damages.

all right. you are looking at live pictures

right now of what was the house where four university of idaho students were murdered. that house has been torn down or in the process of being torn down despite the objections of victims' families. they wanted all of this held off until after the suspect's trial. it didn't happen. now, all of the objections are too late. cnn's veronica miracle is outside of the house in idaho, and talk to us about what is happening, and what it all means. >> well, john, the demolition started early, and it is moving quickly. we are going to pan off so you can see for yourself, an excavator has taken out the entire front of the house, and the back half of the house remains standing and debris trucks have been lined up taking debris out. there is a half a dozen trucks behind the camera waiting. they have been systemic, and university officials are expecting this to be finished by

the end of the day. officials have been wanting this to be torn down, and security concerns breaking in, and there a daily reminder of the horrific crimes here, and you have touched on the two families that had actually come out outspoken yesterday, and they were concerned about this being torn down. they had a list of about eight points wanting to make the trial as easy for the jury, because they are hoping for a conviction of the case, and they brought ip points like looking at the jury of the vantage point of the roommates inside or outside of the house, and if the evidence is presented around the perimeter of the exit points, the jury would not be able to see that. but the university has been in touch with the prosecutor's office every step of the way, and according to the prosecutor's office, idaho code would not allow the jury to have entered the home, because it is so different than when the crime

originally happened. there have been cleanup crews, has zmat crews, and they have h belongings removed, and so the inside of the house is very altered, but take a listen to what the university of idaho public information officer had to say. >> there was a point with the october trial that things would work out that the house could remain, and when the trial was put off indefinitely, the conversations changed. we understand that there are a lot of emotions around that house, and for the families especially, we also listened to our community and talked with the prosecutors and the defense and we believe that now is a good time to go ahead and take that house down. >> reporter: obviously, a complicated and emotional decision here. this house, once it is leveled, it is going to be an empty lot, and the university is going to

create a memorial garden on campus at some point next year. >> thank you, veronica miracle. keep us posted. we are following devastating breaking news, and we have learned that judith weinstein was killed on october 7th. she was an american israeli hostage and her body was taken by hamas to a kibbutz in israel and she was injured in the massacre and then taken by hamas. her husband gaddi was also taken hostage and we have learned that he had been killed, but hamas is holding his body, and a grim milestone ahead for paul whelan. today is marking five years in russia, and he is still jailed. the former marine was jailed in moscow in 2017, and charged where he vehemently denies. he was sentenced to 16 years in

prison, and a sentence he has been serving in a prison camp in mardovia and what are we hearing about whelan's condition? >> he is sounding very deflated with his condition that he described the situation is surreal, and the whole situation that he is still there is completely demoralizing, and he is concerned that he will never see his 80-year-old parents again. he has lost some of his beloved pets. he has lost friend, and the family has said that it has taken a big toll on them as well. now, he is aware that there are efforts under way to try to secure his release, and this is something that secretary of

state antony blinken referenced in the statement yesterday. he said that they are working everyday to try to bring him home. they will not rest until they do so, and however, he is frustrated at this time that the efforts have not yet yielded any progress. take a listen to what he told me at the end of november, sara. >> i am wondering what they are going to do next. if there is no diplomatic solution, what comes next? what are they prepared to do to honor the promise to get me home. if they are throwing spaghetti at the wall hope something sticks to come up with an agreement, that is not a good policy. >> reporter: and so this is very frustrating for him to be sitting in the jail cell five years later. sara. >> it has to be an awful, awful thing for him and his family, and the "wall street journal"

reporter evan gersshhkovich is still being held as well. and now, the top officials of the biden administration, and some top officials may have reached an agreement with mexico on at least some ways to deal with the migrant crisis.

this morning, new data is showing that new claims for unemployment benefits rose higher than expected last week, but they are still historically low. 218,000 claims for unemployment insurance and that is 9,000 more than expected, but americans are getting good news at the gas pumps. news shared with cnn show that americans will spend $32 billion less next year than this year, and $79 billion less than they did in 2022. for more on this we bring in cnn reporter matt egan. this is encouraging, and for someone who lived in california where the prices were outrageous, and when you are hearing they are going down, a lot of us don't talk about it, and we enjoy the fact that they are down, but when they are up, we do notice it?

>> yes, sara, we do notice that. and gas buddy is projecting that the yearly average in 2024 is going to be $3.38 a gallon nationally, and that is not cheap, but it is down 13 cents from this year, and down more from the average of $4 in 2022 when all of us were talking about the gas all of the time, and moving in the right direction and this is going to translate to american spending of $32 billion less on fuel, and $79 billion less than in 2022 and that is nothing to sneeze at, and the timing is significant, and i don't know if you have heard, but it is an election year, and the americans hate high gas prices, and so it could be helpful for a white house struggling to sell the voters struggling with biden economics, and one surprising point here is the why. the united states is pumping record amounts of oil, and more oil than any country on the planet, and that is huge. it is helping to cushion the consumers against the shocks

elsewhere around the world. >> it is interesting, when you are sort of looking at that, because you will hear from a certain candidate drill, baby, drill, but it turns out that we are producing more oil than we have in the past. i did not know that. thank you, matt egan. and there is an appeals court blocking a huge part of apple's business, the smart watch. what the heck is going on there? >> yes, this is a confusing story for consumers. this is the deal. apple's most advanced watches were banned for roughly 36 hours due to a patent dispute. this ban applies to the series 9 and the ultra 2 watches, but yesterday, andle won an emergency appeal in court blocking the ban. that means that apple watch is back, and the sales on the apple's website are set to resume today at 3:00 p.m., and rolling out in the stores as well. so this is good for everyone hunting for an apple watch, and this is only temporary, and the

patent dispute is making its way through the court system. i got my wife an apple watch series 9 for christmas, and so she has a temporary banned technology for about 36 hours. >> you see, that john? at 3:00 p.m., i don't have an apple watch anywhere, and so at 3:00 p.m., you can get to the store to get one before it is taken off of the shelf. >> i will keep that in mind. >> thank you, matt egan, for that. new this morning, the mexico president said that a new agreement had been reached to open up new closings that had been previously closed. the secretary of state and secretary blinken just met with the leaders. and so, this is also some extensive experience here

surrounding the border. so can you give me a sense of this agreement or the progress in the discussions between the u.s. officials and the mexican officials, and what is the significance here? >> well, the details are light on the specifics of this agreement. we do know what the priorities were for each of the governments going into the agreement as well as the intractable and magnitude of the crisis. this migrant serge has thrown out the last two years, and the biden administration has tried to get the administration to help at the southern border, and push mexico to open in-country refugee programs to deter the migrants from making dangerous journey north. as far as the meeting that just

occurred, we know that for nations, how this migrant surge, and resources at the border impacted legal ports of entry and also commerce between the countries is also a concern. we know that both countries were trying to reach an agreement going into this, and the folk s ton the one person back at the room, and the crack down of human and the magnitude of the search as well as it is really impacting the entire hemisphere and a new snurmt and now you are seeing the countries like venezuela and colombia and costa rica, so you are going to be needing a regional strategy when it comes to this crisis at this

time. >> where do mexico's desires, and the u.s. desire here verge? >> well, so, amlo and the amlo administration and by that the mexican government, they are focussing can on sending u.s. foreign aid to the region to improve conditions so that the migrants don't have to leave rather than an informant-only enforcement. the biden administration says they have a two-handed approach, but however, talking to folks on the mexican side, you will hear that there is a focus on the enforcement, and they want more on the u.s. aid side. vi reported on the last time that the secretary of state, and the homeland secretary visited on these meetings when i was in the area, i did report on

migration trafficking and stopping the guns coming from the u.s. to mexico. there was some tension raising on and so you will have that time bobby tied to the tumultuous seat there. >> thank you so much for sharing your expertise on this. appreciate it. >> thank you. coming up, "the new york times" is going to take legal action against openai and microsoft. this is going to be a battle royale, guys. why they say that the company has caused billions of dollars to the times. and we are hearing dramatic 911 call of a man who had been trapped in his truck for nearly a week before being discussed by fishermen. >> he is goioing to needed the

of life. theyey are a and the wayay, bud they arere and the w way!!

this morn, we are hearing a call for help after a pair of fishermen found a man trapped in indiana inside of his truck for six fricking days. the men were scouting fishing spots when they happened upon a wreck and they spotted something shiny and then they found that the person inside of the truck is alive. >> there is a car that has been here since wednesday, and there is a person inside of it. he is still alive, too. he said that his legs might be broken. he has, he is going to need the jaws of life to open the door. they are on the way, buddy. i am surprised that there is nobody else who has seen him. and i walked up and i seen the truck underneath the bridge. i thought that it was kind of weird. >> yeah, yeah, that is definitely. that is definitely good that you

managed to see him. >> and the fishermen talked about the sheer relief of the man who was discovered. his truck rolled several times before landing underneath. he survived by drinking rain water. last night, he released a statement thanking the good samaritans who found him and everyone who has sent him well wishes. the hospital says that he is in critical condition, and he is going to need a lot of time to rest and heal. >> what a miracle. >> so cool. "the new york times" is suing openai and microsoft for copyright infringement, because they say that they copied millions of articles to train their technology. and now, the technology reporter

ryan mack, and sometimes the ai issues are hard for people to wrap their head around, and there are two aspects of the law, and sometimes they are saying that chatgpt will cite the "times" but now it is training the system. what is this talking about? >> yes, these system, and the generative models use billions of content from around the web to train the models. looking at chatgtp for example, it has ingested according to the complaint, billn yos of pieces of content stretching back to the 1950s, and articles, and recipes, and wire cutter articles. it is serving people content that the "times" believes should

be read from its own platform. if you can read the complaint, you see the things compared side by side, and it is quite apparent that, you know, chatgtp is indeed feeding from or taking from the "times'" content. >> there is no question that chatgtp has used the new york times content here, and the times is suing. but what is less clear is how a court is going to look at this. what will, if this does go to the court, what will the court need to decide here? >> well, i think that remains to be seen. it is an incredibly new frontier that we are hitting here with this lawsuit. the court will need to decide essentially whether this is free use. companies like openai and microsoft have claimed that, you know, that taking this content and putting it into the models has been a form of free use. that is going to be the crux of

the argument. >> yeah, and so a decision of that nature, and if the courts were ever to decide that, and looking at it from a different perspective, and if the courts were ever to say, no, no, ai companies cannot do that, how much would that upend the ai process? >> i mean, it could radically change their business models. you know, the times is saying that it is should be afforded billionsf dollars in compensation for the copyright violations, and that still remains to be seen, but even the openai, and microsoft, they have acknowledged in the past that they do need compensate the rights holder, and looking at the deals with other publisher, and axle springer, the publisher of politico and business insider, that i have cut deals with the companies, so there is

some recognition, they will have to play, and the "times" are hoping they will find bigger decision that a number of companies will have to look at. thank you for sharing your insight, ryan mac. and now, 2023 taylor swift version, and becoming a swiftie, and becoming a billionaire, and beating out a doll for a coveted title. we will look back at taylor r swifift and 202323 her biggeges yet.

♪ ♪ now that it is done and over ♪ ♪ it is hard to believe ♪ ♪ but it turned out that i am harder to forget ♪ ♪ than i was to leave ♪ ♪ and yeah i bet you think about me ♪ >> we sure did. she was correct. we have been thinking about taylor. from her blockbuster global concert tour to the record-smashing movie and to the headline making love story, there is a reason that taylor was the "time" person of the year, and there is a reason that taylor swift made it her era. >> welcome to the era tour. >> she is not the anti-hero of 2023. ♪ it's me, hi, i'm the problem ♪ ♪ it's me ♪

>> reporter: in fact, she is "time" person of the year. even in taylor swift's wildest dream, it would be hard to imagine more success and more revenues and not one, but three best-selling albums. they are not new. 1989 and "speak now" were recorded as swift reclaims to have yonership of her music. >> we are about to go on an adventure, and this is going to span 17 years of music. >> reporter: in march, swift embarked on a record-breaking world wide tour, and it is expected to rake in more than $2 billion in north american ticket sales alone. swift even helped to bail out the box office in a difficult year with a movie version of the eras tour contert and made $96 million in the u.s. and canada. spotify and apple music have both named her artist of the year. >> there is not an artist on the

planet who has achieved so much in a calendar year, and we at apple music felt the same way. it is no denying that, you know, what she has achieved over the last 12 months in my lifetime at least from the productivity and quality point of view is sort of unprecedented. >> reporter: greenberg says that swift became a billionaire in october, and swift influence went beyond music. she was spotted not in the bleachers, but in a box as she debuted a new relationship. ♪ it's a love story ♪ ♪ baby just say yes ♪ >> reporter: the love story boosted nfl and tv ratings and comes down to the powerful bond that swift has forged with the fans using hidden messages and clues known as easter eggs and in songs and performances in social media. >> any time she puts anything out, there a sense of anticipation that surrounds the experience and also the idea that we as fans can be invested

in that by uncovering the details and moving in different ways. i mean, the depth of easter egg placement is sort of unbelievable. it is just strengthening the interest of the artist and the fan, and something that taylor swift has been completely dedicated her whole career. >> reporter: do you believe that we have hit peak taylor swift? >> well, if she has proven anything, even the people who do not listen to her music, she has not stopped creating at her highest level. and only taylor is going to decide where and when she moves and when she comes back like any other time, she going to be dedicated to it. and that what i appreciate with her, when she comes in with a record or tour, she is all in. >> reporter: the eras tour continues through 2024. ♪ down the stairs i was there and i remember it all too well ♪ >> reporter: so we know all too well, it is another year of

swift success. anna stewart, cnn, london. >> john just wants to listen to music. and the swiftie in you is so huge and encompassing. >> i like that only taylor swift can decide when peak taylor swift is. >> she has earned that. >> this what i like about it, she is continuing to producing the songs, and it is not like she is not producing the content that the fans are eating up. >> she is famous for being really, really talented. it is nice to see. >> and news this morning, nikki haley is called out over her answer to a simple question about the civil war. now she is trying to clarify in lightning quick time in campaign sense, trying to clarify and clean it up with new attacks on her critics. she is the biggest artist in the world. >> they sued taylor swift on

"shake it off" saying that she wrote it. >> as soon as i heard it, i said, that is dope. >> everybody in the music industry is looking over their shoulder. >> when you respect other artist, you give credit. >> what we know about taylor swifift, she doeoes not t shy y from a a fightht. >> t taylor swift,t, cnn at t 9 p.m. s sunday.

a group looking to take the fight to keep donald trump off of the ballot is taking fight to the supreme court, but will the high court weigh in? a demolition is under way at the site where four idaho college students were killed is being torn down before our very eyes despite the pleas of the victims' families to keep it standing. and student loan payments are back again, but over 9 million borrowers are not paying. we paid to a financial expert about why this is good news for the economy. i'm sara sidner alongside john berman who decid