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 decided to show up

today with the happy face on, and kate is enjoying a little bit of time off, but not as much as you would have. this is cnn "news central"." happening on the campaign trail, nikki haley on an event and we have pictures of it, and she is on the trail for the first time since she gave that controversial answer overnight to what caused the civil war. she managed to answer the question last night without using word slavery. this morning she has tried to clean up the comments already on a radio show. she said of course she knows that the civil war was about slavery. what you are looking at right now is her first public event in north conway, the north country there in new hampshire back on the trail, and we will see, because we are watching it very carefully to see if she mentions it at the event. i want to remind you what she

said last night. listen. >> what was the cause of the united states civil war? >> well, don't come with an easy question or anything. i mean, i think that the cause of the civil war was basically how the government was going to run and the freedoms of what people could and couldn't do. >> all right. that is nikki haley last night. what you saw was what will be nikki haley's first public campaign event today and we are seeing the new hampshire governor chris sununu, and he just endorsed nikki haley, and this could be a big moment on the campaign trail for her. and we have eva mckind there with her. eva? >> yes, john, cleanup mode. this is the larger way of how nikki haley has been running the campaign and really in the play-it safe mode, and her rival chris christie characterizes her as being all things to everybody, and that cannot work

when you are trying to answer a straight forward answer about the origins of the civil war. she neglected to reflectively answer slavery. >> of course, it is about slavery, but what i answered was what it meant about today and that is freedom, and that is what it is all about. >> reporter: so president biden weighing in on this tweeting it was about slavery, and we also heard from dnc chair jaime harrison tweeting out basically about her record as governor of south carolina assailing that track record. it is of course under her tenure that the confederate flag was

taken down from the state capital, but the democrats argue it was after the pressure, after the terrible slaughter at the mother emanuel church that she was pushed into that position. so this is an ongoing conversation on the campaign trail. we will see if she addresses it further. she typically does not take the reporter questions at campaign stops, but she will take questions from voters, and perhaps they will ask her about this as she makes multiple stops today and the campaign trail. she is going to be joined by governor sununu on some of the stops. john? >> thank you, eva mckend in new hampshire. we are looking at live pictures of nikki haley in conway, new hampshire, and beautiful conway, new hampshire. and we will keep an eye and the event to see if she is addressing the issue. she running the show, and unless she takes questions from voters,

whether it will come up or assertively trying to deal with it again, but joining me is errol louis political anchor for spectrum news errol, do you think that she needs to address it again on this event that we are monitoring? >> i think she ought to, because she has a tough set of caucus and primaries coming up, and she does not want this in the news cycle, and she needs to dispose of it as quickly as possible to go back to the nikki haley of 2015 who in the wake of the terrible massacre of mother emanuel decided to remove the confederate flag from the statehouse which should have happened a long, long time ago, and she wu as perfectly clear about the morality there, and trying to play footsy with the republican base, she is fading

again. >> she just asked for a show of hands. she has blamed a democratic plant about this question of the civil war. well, listen for a second. >> yesterday, i was at, and last night i was asked about the civil war. and what i think of the civil war and what was the cause of the civil war. of course the civil war was about slavery. we know that. that is unquestioned, always the case, we know the civil war was about slavery, but it was also more than that. it was about the freedoms of every individual. it was about the role of government. for 80 years america had the decision and the moral question of whether slavery was a good

thing and whether government economically or culturally had a role to play in that. by the grace of god, we did the right thing and slavery is no more, but the lessons of what the bigger issue of what the civil war are is let's not forget what came out of that which is government's role, individual liberties, freedom for every single person, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do and be anything that you want to be without anyone or government getting in your way, and that should be the goal of what we always try and take away from that, right. because we never want to return back to that place, but we always want to remember the lesson of what it means to be a free individual, and that

everyone deserves to be a free individual. we stand by that, and i say that as a southerner, and a southerner governor who removed confederate flag off of the state house grounds and as a proud american of how far we have come, and now i want to start with telling you about myself and we will start about the state of the country and talk about how to save her. i was born and raised -- >> what you saw there was very interesting. south carolina governor, and former south carolina governor nikki haley choosing, choosing to address this issue in her first campaign event of the day, and you will get a sense of just how important she believes it was to clean up this answer that she gave last night when she was asked what caused civil war and she did not mention slavery, and this morning at this event she proactively went out and among the first things that she told this audience in north conway, new hampshire a very, very long way from the south, and the

first thing that she told the audience was of course, the civil war was about slavery and the role of government there. and errol louis, you are watching this alongside us, and what are you make of the fact that she said and how she said it? >> well, she is dancing carefully among the factions of the party. let me sharpen the answer, the civil war was not about small government and how she is trying to transform the well known events of the past. the confederate traders who tried to break off in large a slave empire in the country were defeated not only through the grace of god, but by the force of arms of the very large armed union government. so there are times when big government is needed to deal with confederate traitors for example. she can draw whatever conclusions she thinks is going to get her more vote, but the historical record is pretty clear, and she is going to encounter this again and again.

this soot question, and you don't have to be a democratic plant to bring it up, why did the republican party come into existence? why was abraham lincoln the first president, and let her try to figure out an answer to that, and we will get to the real answer here, john, who are we going to be? what is this country about? what are the fundamental moral principles that the president is expected to talk about and advance and create the policies to uphold? until she can really sort of get that straight in a way that is not, you know, her counting the votes in the back of her head, i think that she is really going to have a very hard time. >> yeah, she is still dancing a little bit here, errol and i am glad that you pointed out the ambiguity in the answer. and yes, of course, the civil war is about slavery, but the role the government had to play, and the reason it is ambiguous is because some in the confederacy said it is about the

freedom of individual rights to hold slaves, right? >> that is right. >> and the government role, and the role of government, and people in the confederacy who said that the government in the north had no role in ending slavery, and she is still leaving the ambiguity there, and why? >> again, she is counting votes. and by the way, she is studying for the wrong test as many of the republican rivals for donald trump's voters have been doing since the very beginning. if you want something raw and unvarnished and if you want the ugliness that the confederate flag came to symbolize for pro segregationist forces have come to symbolize over the last few decades, go to donald trump, and he is going to give it to you raw, the ambiguity and the cloudiness, and people don't respond to that, and voters want you to stand for what you stand for, and even if they are landing in a different place, they will reward the authenticity. if nikki haley sounds

inauthentic or calculating, it is going to backfire on her really. >> we will see if this is the last time today or the next few days she addresses the issue, but clearly trying to clean some things up. errol louis, thank you for watching this alongside us this morning. >> thank you, john. >> all right. the u.s. supreme court has the option to decide whether donald trump can constitution ally be barred from a 2024 ballot. this is why. overnight, colorado's republican party asked the supreme court in an appeal to overturn a state level supreme court ruling that says that trump is ineligible to run because the 14th amendment bans insurrectionists. and they argue that by banning the candidate on the ballot, there is a real risk that the colorado supreme court flawed an unprecedented analysis will be borrowed they argue and resulting grave legal error repeated. that is what they are asking the

court the look into. colorado though is an outlier, because other state supreme courts have rejected similar efforts to keep donald trump off of the ballot. the decisions in maine and oregon could come at any time. with me now is caroline polisi, white crime and criminal attorney here. and so we are looking at the situation where the colorado supreme court is going to be reacting, because the states are ruling differently h and do you see them picking up the case? >> i absolutely do, sara, and i don't say it lightly, because this is exactly the kind of case that the supreme court should take in that they can't let sort of chaos reign in the election cycle wherein different states have different candidates on the ballot. that is why i think they will take up the issue, and i don't believe we will get a

satisfactory answer to the big issue which is whether or not then president trump engaged in insurrection which is covered of section 3 of the 14th amendment, and we saw the lower colorado court really engage in the issue, and decide, that yes, he had. however, i think that the supreme court will not get to that question. they will likely rule, you know, under the sort of the idea of whether this is a political question whether or not the courts are the ones who are supposed to be stepping in and deciding this rather than say the congress or the electorate, and that is where they will draw the line, but i think that they will take it and it is right for review. >> and so when you are looking at this, the 14th amendment is pretty clear in that it says that anyone who is engaged and anyone who has held office through insurrection, it does not say anything about being charged, but the law is used in many ways, and siit is not just

what is written on the paper, and it is what is being written and used in court. >> right. and we stau trial court level engage in a fact-specific inquiry as to whether or not it believed then president trump had engaged in an insurrection. the judge there, she came out that he did, however, because of this other part of the law which says that it applies only to people who have previously taken an oath of office and thereafter engaged in the insurrection and can't hold other types of offices, it did not apply to those types of offices, and again, the question is going to be as you noted, president trump was not prosecuted for this crime. the january 6th committee, and the congressional committee did find that he engaged in insurrection, and who decides. so we saw how poorly it went when the supreme court stepped in on the political questions,

and in 2020 and in bush v. gore, and that is going to loom large in their head. i do not think they are going to be the ones to decide this issue. >> remember when hanging chads were the biggest story of the political year. it has been a minute since that. >> exactly, exactly. >> caroline polisi. >> we don't want the repeat. no hanging chads. and new numbers this morning from the u.s. border patrol, and progress being made to stop the influx of the migrants. and demolition happening on the idaho house where four college students were murdered but nout without objection from the families of the victims. we are getting new video in from gaza in the location where israelis have told people to evacuate immediately.

>> all right. these are the life pictures of what was the house in idaho where four college students were stabbed to death. you can see it. it has been torn down. it all happened over the last few hours here. some of the victims' families had begged, begged for the school which is tearing it down, the university of idaho to wait until after the suspect's trial, but the university of idaho went forward this morning and they did it ahead of schedule. the demolition was ahead of schedule. cnn's veronica miracle is outside of the home in idaho, and walk us through what happened here and why this is so

controversial. >> well, john, it took only about an hour and a half for this house to be completely destroyed. all you can see behind me is debris. they are moving in a quick orderly fashion, and they have had trucks in and out of here, and this is over by the end of the day, and the university of idaho, and the officials are telling us that they wanted the house to be demolished for months and have been making efforts to do so for several issues and the first being that when the house was standing, you could see it from campus. they said it is a daily reminder of the horrific crimes that happened here with the four university of idaho students stabbed to death in the middle of the night, and the students who lived in this area and staff having to see this property was incredibly emotional and difficult. there were also security concerns. take a listen. >> so we have had security at the site this entire time that the house has been in our possession, because we have people who try to access the house, and people stopping by and driving by everyday, and so

it is definitely a concern that something could happen there, and people could gain access and it be used in ways that we don't intend. so, just removing it from that site is going to be helpful for that as well. >> john, as you mentioned, at least two of the families have asked the university and the prosecutor's office to stop the demolition as last night and sending a letter of eight points of concern to make the trial as easy as possible for jury, because they want a conviction in this case, and the issues were what about the jury not looking at the vantage point of the roommates inside of the house, and what about outside of the house if evidence is presented about the perimeter or entry or exit points and now the jury would not be able to see that. however, the university received an email from the prosecutor's office and they have been speaking with and been in communication with the

prosecutor's office every step of the way, and the idaho code says that the jury could not go into the house, because it is so different from the way it looked at the time of the crime. >> and so no more controversy, because the discussion of whether or not it should be demolished is now moot. and now, an israeli citizen taken by hamas after being injured was killed that day on october 7th, and how the woman's family is remembering her and her husband. and now, on the u.s./mexico border, officials are i sag there is an agreement of how to approach the crisis at the southern border. that is to kochlt come.

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this morning, there appears to been agreement to reopen the southern border crossings that have been temporarily closed. that is information coming from the mexico president and coming as the u.s. border patrol is releasingprehending more than 22,000 migrants in the del rio segment alone. rosa flores is there, and what is the latest there, rosa? >> well, we are learning more from the talks that happened in mexico city yesterday. more about the substance of these talks between the u.s. and mexico. i wanted to start with what we are learning from u.s. officials. now, this is new reporting from

my colleague kevin liptack, and this is from the mexico president who has taken significant law enforcement actions on the border. i can tell you that we are seeing the effects here in eagle pass, because this is the epicenter just last week, and now we are seeing no migrants. i want to get out of the way to give you a sense of what we are seeing. this field was packed with thousands of migrants last week that were waiting to be transported for processing. this week, we are not seeing that. now, what could these law enforcement actions be? we don't know exact details, but i can tell you from experience that could include for example mex ican national guard on post along the various places of the border used by human smugglers and check points on trains in mexico used by migrants to move north. it could also include deportations or migrants being moved either to central mexico or to southern mexico from the

border, and we have also learned from this national security council spokesperson that mexico is now expected to visit d.c. in january. from the mexico president, what we are learning is that there is some sort of agreement to reopen ports of entry that have been closed. these ports of entry have been closed by the u.s. federal government to redirect personnel to process migrants. we don't know details there either, john, but that makes sense for so many reasons, including the fact that mexico is the u.s.'s largest trading partner, and so both countries are losing money if these ports of entry continue to be closed. >> rosa flores, thank you for your work all week long at eagle pass. thank you for being there. the idf is warning people in central gaza to leave now. they posted online that 15 blocks south of gaza including the crossing is limited, and so

it is unclear how many people may see the warnings, because this is coming as the death toll has passed 21,300 in gaza according to health ministry. we bring in elliott gaukin in tel aviv. and what do you see going forth as in khan younis, there is a foo fi firefight between the idf and ha hamas. >> sara, what is happening is they are paying heed to the u.s. pressure to giving sufficient warning to the residents of the gaza strip to try to get them out of harm's way, and that it is therefore carrying out the operations against hamas and other militant groups unimpeded, and what they said is that they were advising people in central gaza to move to the refugee

camp, but we have seen in past that many people, and more than 80% of those inside of the gaza strip have been displaced and forced to move from their homes and especially in the north to central gaza or the southern gaza, and yes, there are those who may not get the message, but there are others who will get the message and we have heard it from so many people inside of the gaza strip and palestinians that nowhere in gaza is safe. so safety is relative. so maybe they are taking view that better to remain where we are, and yes, dangers, but danger are everywhere, and better to stay put and not be displaced once again, and what this is also going to do for those who are moving is to further exacerbate the dire humanitarian situation inside of the gaza strip. sara? >> it is a horrific position for the civilians to be in. we have also learned something about one of the hostages that is an american israeli hostage has been declared dead now. what can you tell us about that? >> that is right. this is announced by kibbutz nir

oz, and we know that the canadian citizen was injured near october 7th, and the injury was fatal. the body is believed to be held by hamas and as is that of her husband who was also killed on october 7th. she leaves behind four children and seven grandchildren and even a 95-year-old mother. judy was believed to be the last living american female hostage being held by hamas and other militant groups in the gaza strip. they are holding more than 100 people, men, women, children, and the israelis are continuing to try to demand that they be returned home. conversations this evening were had between prime minister benjamin netanyahu and the families of the hostages, and he was hinting that conversations remain on going to try to get some kind of deal, and another deal on track, but no sign of that just yet.

sara. >> we know that you will be watching and we will be waiting to watch to see how this plays out. elliott gotkine, thank you with the team there. and so student borrowers are back on the hook for the bills, but 40% of them are still not paying. why that is actually good news for the economy.

the pandemic pause on the student loans is up, and meaning that the last few months the borrowers are back on the hook for the billions of dollars still owed. while billions in repayments have been coming in, new data is showing a sharp decline in the month of december. the government is on track to collect $4.8 billion and far less than $9 billion owed. turns out millions of borrowers just missed payments. it is worth noting that the penalties like credit dings and missed payment will not kick in until september, and that is because of the on ramps for

people if they miz a payment or two. and joining me is financial expert joining us. and so the appeal for more financial aid sounds like a good thing if you have all of the darn loans, but the payments are going to hurt when the students really do start paying them back. how are the student loan borrowers responding at this point in time, and does it surprise you that so many have missed payments in december? >> it is not all that surprising that the borrowers with the restart of repayment are a little bit confused a t ed abou options or how to get started. normally a six-month grace period before you get started, and that payment is the one that is most lickly to be late. >> yes, i remember the deferments, right. you could defer for a couple of times. i did it. my first six months, because apparently, tv does not pay that well when you first start. and i do want to ask you about

the economy. you argue that the missing of the payments might be better for the economy? explain. >> well, if they are not using money to make money on student loans, then they are using it to make payments on food, rent, automobiles and the average student loan payment is less than the average car payment. >> it is? around what? $300, $200? >> yes, and the average is around $300, $350 on the student loans and the car payments is around $450. >> nicer cars than i ever had. i do want to ask you about this amount though of the payment that may be $300 or $400, but the length of time that it has to be paid. when i was in school, literally, the cost of school was like 1,000% less than it is now. and how on earth can any of these students get from underneath that huge debt?

>> well, they have many options to repay. they have the standard 10-year repayment, extend repayment which is up to 30 years, and also the income-driven repayment plans which base the monthly payment on a percentage of the income as opposed to amount you owe. the most recent one is the biden administration save plan which starting july 1, 2024 is going to cut the payment of undergraduate debt in half, and after 20 years in payment, and in some cases, 25 years and in some cases less, the remaining debt is forgiven. >> that is actually really good news if you pay on time, and pay throughout the years, the rest of it is forgiven. mark, let me lastly ask you when it is coming to what the students are doing these day, because there are certain jobs to go into where you can get the student loans paid for if you are in for example public service, right? >> there is public service loan

forgiveness after you make 120 qualifying payments after working full time in public service time which is police, fire, emts, the members of the military, the public school teachers and certain private schoolteachers, the remaining debt is going to be forgiven, and tincome driven repayment makes the loan manageable, and then forgiven after ten years. >> and for the students who are dealing with all of the money borrowed. we appreciate your time. >> thank you. and simone biles and brittney griner and bronny james made the sports stories of 2023, but they are not number one. who is? stay tuned. she is the biggest artist in the world. >> songwriters sued taylor swift. >> if we know anything, it is that she does not shy away from

a fight. >> taking on taylor swift t new year's dayay at t 9:00 on cnn.

a very bumpy landing for the american airlines flight. take a listen. >> ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh-ooh, ooh, ooh! stop it! [ laughter ] >> sorry, that is so incredibly

british and so wonderful. the plane was -- [ laughter ] -- he was headed from los angeles to london's heathrow as you can tell when it was hit by a huge gust of wind. you can see how it grifted and dip and bounced and the commentary there which is the best sports commentary in years, and the area there has been impacted by a powerful storm that has produced over 200 high wind winds -- >> ooh, ooh, oh, oh, ooh -- stop it! >> stop it! >> he is really into it. >> it is phenomenal. that is just phenomenal. >> oh. >> and legendary performance and records broken and major controversies and that is 2023 for sara sidner. >> what? >> no, not really. >> what? >> and mind blowing comebacks and the year for sports and the year for sara sidner, and andy scholes is going to look back at what an incredible year it was.

>> reporter: 2023 saw some of the greatest ever say good-bye to the sport while others made a triumphant returns, and we had a sport power couple and the new king of scoring and one of the most remarkable sports comebacks of all time. gymnast simone biles has made history again. >> she made return to competition for first time since suffering a case of the twisties at the tokyo olympics. she won five more medals at the world championships making her the most decorated gymnast of all time, and she has her eyes set on the 2024 paris games. >> right now, i would say that it is the path that i would love to go. >> reporter: and coco gauff becomes a u.s. champ winning the u.s. open in thrilling fashion. >> it is the cross i needed to

cross, and i hope i can do it many more times. >> reporter: and djokovic overtook rafa nadal for the most all-time on the men's side with 24 victories in his career. >> knowing that i play at such a high level and still i win the biggest in the sport, i don't want to leave this sport if i am still at the top. >> reporter: at number eight, many saw a team celebrate a championship for the first time. two-time mvp nicola jokic leading the denver nuggets. and the rangers top the diamondbacks to end their 63-year world series wait. kim mulkey and angel >> while the golden knights got to celebrate on the strip with a

stanley cup for the very first time. >> we're champions. >> number 7, the vegas strip saw lots of partying this year. the aces, the first team in 21 years, to win back to back wnba titles. 2023 saw the return of brittney griner to the nba. she missed a all of the 2022 season after being wrongfully detained in russia. >> i'm no stranger to hard times. you're going to be faced with adversities throughout your life. this was a pretty big one. >> an outrageous story, one might be tempted to say that the pga tour merging with liv golf creates strange bedfellows. except we know how the saudis got the pga the tour into that bed, with a lot of money. as a player on tour, we don't

have a lot of clarity as to what's going on and that's a bit worrisome. >> i still hope liv goes away. >> the framework is still a mystery with a deadline for the two sides to reach a formal agreement set for the end of this year. >> lebron james breaking the record to become the all-time leading scorer. passing a a fellow laker kareem abdul-jabbar. >> this was not a goal for me. that's why it's so surreal. hopefully i can do some more incredible things before i'm done. >> lebron james became the king of scoring passing kareem abdul-jabbar. the family was dealt a scare as his oldest sop went into cardiac arrest during a basketball practice at usc. >> listen, the ambulance is here now. >> five months after collapsing on the court from cardiac arrest, lebron james' son is back playing making his co

collegiate debut for the usc basketball team. >> i want to say i'm thankful for everything. >> number 4, the u.s. women's national team's quest to become the first ever team to win three straight world cups was dashed by sweden in the round of 16. the team saying good-bye to retiring stars megan rapinoe. >> it has been such an honor to be able to wear this shirt and play with all these amazing players. and to just live out my childhood dream. >> as they hoisted the cup, their win and celebrations were marred by an unwanted kiss. spain's president receiving fierce criticism for forcefully kissing a star player. he was banned from all soccer activities for three years by fifa and despite being defiant, he eventually resigned his post. the best in the world. >> number 3, messi mania taking

miami by storm. the world's best soccer player shocking the world by making the move to enter miami. messi's arrival saw ticket prices soar and fans come from all over to see the star. number 2, the chiefs and eagles playing a thriller in super bowl lvii. >> in all reality, this was the best season of my life. >> tras vis kelce celebrating another championship. he would become the story of the 2023 season as fan couldn't get enough of his budding romance with pop star taylor swift. >> there's breaking news right now. a serious injury on of the field during the bengals game. >> the condition of buffalo bills safety damar hamlin is in critical condition after

suffering a cardiac arrest and collapsing on the field. >> hamlin said his cardiac arrest was caused by court fits, but thanks to the heroics of medical staff, they were able to resuscitate. >> you could write a hollywood script about the power of faith, people rallying and rising up for others when they are down. this story about hamlin turned into a story about humanity. >> hamlin would return to the field playing for the bills in the fall completing one of the the greatest comebacks in history. >> this event was life changing. but it's not the end of my story. >> speaking of perseverance and life-changing events, our ryan young had the cutest baby in all of cutie town. look at this baby. that, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the world ranger patterson young. ryan rob and his lovely lady had this gorgeous little tyke.

you just want to pick him up and squeeze him and do all the things. perfection right there. good job, ryan. that's the best package you have ever done for cnn. >> the mayor of cutie town. thank you all for joining us. congratulations to all of them. this has been "cnn news central." "inside politics" is up next.

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