>> i want the pistons to win because i feel bad for them. is that what normal people do? >> it is. it's one of the most normal things you do. when americans root for their favorite team, when their favorite team isn't playing, 67% root for the underdog, that's me. 33% for the yankees. i call all favorites the yankees. here's one thing i will note i want to end on a sad but happy note. our long suffering teams, the vikings still haven't won a super bowl, the bills haven't won a super bowl, and cyankees, no world series appearance since 2009. >> harry enten waking up and choosing violence today. we appreciate you. >> the vikings have a new coach i just sat down with him. you'll hear what's coming up. super bowl i believe. how do you write on this thing? i hate this. cnn "news central" starts now.

>> donald trump's allies taking their fight to the supreme court, their appeal to be-to-get his ban from the ballot in colorado overturned. >> what caused the civil war? that was the simple question posed to nikki haley at a campaign stop overnight. her answer that confused some voters failed to mention slavery. and today the idaho home where four college students were murdered will be torn down. why some of the victims' families do not want that to happen. i'm sara sizedner alongside joh berman. and finally kate bolduan said if you're going to be off i'm going to be off. >> she could be here, i'm here. >> she said i'm done. this is cnn "news central."

this morning the $2024 million question, will the u.s. supreme court weigh in on whether the u.s. constitution can keep donald trump off the presidential ballot. overnight the colorado republican party appealed a state court decision that said that trump is ineligible to run because the 14th amendment bans insurrectionists. other state supreme courts have overruled similar requests, including michigan 24 hours ago. maine is expecting a decision any day now. cnn's katelyn polantz is with us this morning with the latest on colorado, the constitution and the reek court. >> reporter: welcome back. this 14th amendment that says that insurrectionists are not

eligible for office. the question is does that apply to donald trump because of what he did in 2020 related to the capitol riot. many states that have looked at this have said our courts are not getting involved or trump can stay on the ballot in some way. colorado is the one state that has not said that. where their state courts have determined that he is not eligible and they have the ability to take him off the primary ballot. that's what's before the supreme court right now because the colorado republican party has filed a petition yesterday saying, please, supreme court, settle this. everybody is doing different things here. and we don't think what colorado did is fair to donald trump or voters. here's what they write, by excludeing president trump from the ballot, the colorado supreme court engaged in an unprecedented disregard for the first amendment right of political parties to select the candidates of their choice with

a number of challenges now pending in other states there's a risk the supreme court's majority flawed and unprecedented analyst borrowed and the legal error repeated. so we're waiting to see what maine does, how other challenges like these play out in other states. and the important thing to remember here is what the gop in colorado is asking the supreme court to look at is whether there is even the power for a court or secretary of state to remove a presidential candidate off the ballot. we're waiting to see what donald trump does here, if he goes to the supreme court and asks to look at whether he is eligible whether they can qualify him as an insurrectionist and keep him off the ballot. >> we're waiting to see if the supreme court will take the case and what they will weigh in on if they choose to look at it.

great to see you, thank you. and donald trump weighing in on the colorado case and the supreme court and bragging about his win in court in michigan but is setting his sights on maine for the next legal battle. trump is starting to look tow towards what are the next battles coming forward. one being maine. what's he saying? >> maine is different than the other states we have seen. before it goes to the court system, the secretary of state will decide whether or not donald trump stays on the ballot. donald trump and his team are asking her to recuse herself pointing to hold posts on social media that say they make her politically bias. it's unlikely she's going to recuse herself and, of course, donald trump's team will have the option to appeal anything she says. but of all the legal battles that donald trump is facing, whether or not he's going to be on the ballot is not one they are concerned about.

they believe given what we have seen in various states, arizona, minnesota, just michigan, that ultimately he will be on the ballot in all 50 states. here's what he said about the supreme court weighing in an interview? >> it seems we're 33 and 1. and the 1 is hopefully going to be overturned by the supreme court because nobody can understand why they did it. maybe they did it for publicity. maybe they did it for some other reason. nobody really understands it. >> they were pretty 13rsurprise that the colorado supreme court issued the ruling. they thought it was possible to rule it in a lower court but they weren't azure it would happen in the supreme court. >> i want to ask you about the

inner workerings of trump's campaign. what are you learning? >> it's striking covering the campaign for the last year. they have the most disciplined team -- not talking about donald trump himself, he's off doing his thing -- but in terms of the campaign it's led by chris and susie, these veteran republican operatives and they tried to manage the messaging coming out of trump world. and sometimes that means picking up the phone and making calls, telling people stop talking to the media because what they're trying to do is stop the internal leeks that plagued trump in 2016 and throughout his tenure in the white house. that's becoming increasingly disk difficult for two reasons. one is as donald trump has inched towards the nomination, i'm told by advisers that people have come out of the woodwork trying to get close to the influence, be part of the action and then running off and talking to media. so that's one part of what

they're navigating. the other is the candidate himself. we have an anecdote in the story we did, he announced at a fund-raiser who should be my vice president. and then people called us to talk about the conversation. so it's hard to control a candidate out there asking for opinions as well as a large span of trump allies who want a shot at a second trump administration. >> thank you for that incite. >> interesting there. with us analyst norm eisen, served as house committee chairman during trump's first impeachment hearing. >> i want to talk about the state supreme court issue. what's the significance of the appeal? >> the significance of the appeal, john, is that there's a

very substantial unresolved question about whether states can themselves apply the 14th amendment. i thought the colorado courts, the trial court and the colorado supreme court made a powerful case that donald trump had engaged in insurrection according to things like his 187 minutes of inaction while the capital was under attack. and indeed calling out the insurrection but at 2:24 a tweet that targeted mike pence put him in danger of his life. the question is not so much the factual one, whether donald trump is -- did insurrection or even the legal one, whether it was 14th amendment insurrection. but what power do the states have particularly in the primary

process under their own law to apply the 14th amendment. and that's why you're seeing these divergent views. michigan saying we don't. colorado saying we do. and now we'll get an answer from maine and perhaps the supreme court will weigh in and say whether colorado was correct. whether the 14th amendment can be executed by the state and whether there's other means such as congress doing it. >> norm it's so interesting how you answer that question because it illustrates how complicated that issue is, and how many different questions the u.s. supreme court could choose to take up. you brought up the issue of whether states have the power to cite the 14th amendment to keep people on or off the ballot there but what are the other questions that the supreme court could or should weigh in on? >> the number one question in the colorado republican party's filing with the supreme court late last night is, does the 14th amendment apply to

presidents at all? it doesn't expressly mention presidents. it talks about officers of the united states. is donald trump an officer of the united states? was he, as an ex-president or not. the weight of scholarly opinion, including the arch conservatives who wrote the definitive law review treatment of the 14th amendment say yes. donald trump was an officer. of course the president is an officer. if the president is not an officer of the united states, who is? not so fast say other scholars. it's the minority opinion. that was not intended to cover presidents. if it did intend to cover presidents it would have said so. i think the better argument is that the president is an officer, but john, the lower court in colorado while it found donald trump was an insurrectionist said he was not

covered. the colorado supreme court reversed that. so those are the kinds of thorny legal questions we're getting into for the first time because of donald trump's alleged misconduct on and leading up to january 6th, 2021. >> you use the word alleged there, which is also interesting for the supreme court because donald trump hasn't been charged with insurrection exactly. has he. does the supreme court, should the supreme court weigh in on whether donald trump committed insurrection or aided those in the act of insurrection? >> john, you clearly brushed up on your law books while you were on break. the -- the supreme court clearly has a duty to make this assessment. they're going to have to do it because it's percolating up from all of the courts. but one very important legal

matter, there's no obligation for an individual to be prosecuted or criminally convicted before the courts, perhaps up to and including the supreme court, make the finding that that person was an insurrectionist under the 14th amendment. and here, john, this is probably the clearest area under the law because of the comments on the ellipse because of that tweet targeting mike pence. because of the 187 minutes of inaction. because of the findings which colorado did consider of the january 6th committee that donald trump engaged in insurrection. there is very powerful evidence to ground the colorado courts finding in that regard. whereas in michigan they didn't make a finding on that because they said in a primary we don't have the power to make this constitutional determination. by the way, the lower court in michigan noted could be different in the general

election. so it'll be very interesting to see what questions the supreme court answers, if any, and what guidance it provides. and we may be back up there in the runup to the general election on the same issues. >> i think if any may be the right framing here, in which off ramp the supreme court uses to avoid the huge questions here. thank you very much. >> thanks, john. a question with a seemingly simple answer why nikki haley is being called out for her answer to this voter's question, what was the cause of the civil war? the one word she failed to use. that's ahead. and in mexico, u.s. officials are hinting an agreement has been reached between the two countries to help drive down the illegal border crossings. the crisis at the border we'll discuss next. and the house where four idaho college students were murdered is scheduled to be torn down in about an hour. the families of the victims

making a last minute emotional plea to stop this demolition. that's ahead.

breaking news, presidential candidate nikki haley is on the radio right now, as we speak, doing a sort of cleanup following questions last night at her rally in new hampshire. she was asked last night what was the cause of the civil war, what was the civil war about. i want you to listen to her answer from last night and no, it does not include any mention of slavery. listen. >> what was the cause of the united states civil war?

>>. >> don't come with an easy question. i think the cause of the civil war was how the government was going to run. the freedoms and what people could and couldn't do. >> she did go on and there was no mention of the word slavery in her answer last night. today, again, as we speak on the radio with something a little different. cnn's wherjessica dean here in studio with us. >> in the flesh. >> what's nikki haley saying right now? >> she is on the radio but she's saying of course the civil war was about slavery but then she was talking about what it means today and she says it's about freedom and individual rights. i think we have that sound. so i'm going to let you listen to it. >> two things. of course the civil war was about slavery. we know that. that's the easy part of it. what i was saying is what does it mean to us today. what it means to us today is

about freedom. that's what that was all about. it was about individual freedom, economic freedom, individual rights. our goal is to make sure we never go back to slavery but what's the lesson in all of that? >> doing a bit of cleanup, she also, john, said it was definitely a democratic plant who asked the question. the voter was a democratic plant. that's why i later asked what does it mean to you and if you listen to the longer, extended clip of that and what do you think and what do you want me to say about this, about slavery? our reporting from my colleague there, ebony davis, who was filing said the voter said they just looked at her previous comments on this when she was running for governor of south carolina and wanted to see if she still said the same thing. he said it was roughly the same thing, he said he was not political but he wanted an answer.

the overarching fact is this is what nikki haley is talking about today, when her campaign wants to be talking about a million other things but donald trump and ron desantis are more than happy for her to be dealing with this. >> look, i've covered a lot of campaigns before. the speed with which she came forward now with this clarification or clean up, whatever you want to call it, it tells you how serious the campaign thinks it is. they can't leave this out there, they had to get her on the radio talking. >> immediately. so now we have this clip. i imagine we'll have a clip of her on television, as soon as she starts making the rounds she will talk to the cameras. she doesn't do a ton of gaggles but when you're on the roads and the candidates will talk to the press, it'll be interesting to see too watch for that. >> jessica dean, great to have you here with us. >> thrilled. couldn't be happier. >> you know who else is here with us? john berman. >> it's good to see you.

>> i took a week off. >> it was too long. you know what i'm saying? it was too long. all the bosses agree. joining us to discuss this, in john berman's absence, cnn's political commentator, bakari sellers and cnn political commentator scott jennings. hello, fellas. >> morning. >> going to start with you bakari, because you are a south carolina boy. what happened here? one of the things that struck me wasn't just that she didn't mention it but at the end when the voter asked her this question and she said, what do you think slavery -- or what do you think this is about he said i'm surprised you didn't mention the word slavery. she said this, what do you want me to say about slavery? bakari. >> i'm embarrassed as a south

carolinan. this is when nikki haley gets in trouble and everyone knows she's talented when it comes to the skill set, politics. however she gets into this thing she doesn't stand for much and turns herself into a pretzel on simple issues. she's from south carolina she knows when we ceded, it was nonstates with slavery. we have the second or third leading candidate for the republican primary and this shows you the importance of history because she just fumbled it. not only did she fumble it, but she was historically inaccurate, she was dishonest. for nikki haley to do that on one breath and champion taking down the confederate flag and these other things in south carolina, it doesn't really match. she needs to get her story

together and her response this morning was just utterly d disappointing. this wasn't a war of economic freedom. the economic freedom of what, the goods produced by slavery. this was a state's right. a state's right to do what, slavery. this is why she's not ready for the big limelight against donald trump. >> i want to get your take on this scott, people will look at it and say she's not trying to say a bad thing about america and play to the base. is that what you see happening here? >> i think it was a gaffe. if she had to do it over again she would have said it was fought over slavery and moved on and talk about the things motivating her campaign. a couple of things jump out to her. in new hampshire, there's a semiopen primary, so she's hoping at will of independent voters come in and vote for her.

my guess, this is not what they want to hear from her. as a campaign tactical issue, it takes you off message and off cycle now for a couple days as she tries to clean this up. she had been enjoying several days in a row of sort of momentum process stories. she's on the move, has the momentum. people rallying behind nikki haley, poll numbers go up and now you're dealing with a self-ise self-inflicted wound here. it was an easy one to answer, she flubbed it and it's easy to clean up, i misspoke, obviously slavery was the cause of the civil war. we'll see how she handles it today moving forward. but you don't have time left to be off the message to be off the campaign drawing to a close. >> i want to point this out, back in 2015 there was an issue in the same line of questioning. i want to let you listen to what

she said back then. it does mirror how she dealt with this question, makes me wonder if it was a flub or putting herself in a pretzel trying not to say something. >> it represents something, i think it should be in a museum setting, at fort sum ter, in a historical setting not a place that represents all people. it shouldn't be in someone's face to where they have to feel it. >> that's when she took the confederate flag down after the horrific church shooting that killed so many black americans there in south carolina. is this something that you think that the other candidates like desantis or vivek ramaswamy or donald trump, will someone pick it up and go with it or stand back and let her deal?

>> my assumption is they're going to let her deal with this. as a campaign matter, if i was in their shoes i would let her try to deal with it. no reason to pile on today. she's made a mess. it's hard to make it any worse. >> there was a couple of things about nikki haley, 2010 when she was running for governor and sitting down with a patriot organization or confederacy organization here. and she was having issues with this question as well, trying to appease the questioners. so you see what happened in 2015 as well and then she gets to this and me anders and doesn't have a definite answer. if i was desantis, i would let her continue to wallow in the self-inflicted wound she created. vivek ramaswamy can only make it worse for himself or her i don't think he has the capacity or

depth to deal with issues of race. no telling what donald trump will do. you should stay out of it, which means trump probably will jump head first into it. >> bakari sellers, scott jennings, he's like i can't do go there today. it's thursday, i want to live my life. thank you for that analysis, gentlemen. >> thank you. with pressure building on the biden administration, overnight word of a quote very productive meeting between officials from the united states and mexico. and pierce brosnan, "remington steel" in trouble with yellow stone national park. the sign says, stay on the trail.

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this morning top u.s. and mexican officials are hinting they've reached an agreement to try to reduce the record numbers of migrants coming into the u.s. over the southern border. just tuesday 6,000 migrants were apprehended along the border. that's actually down a bit from even higher numbers days earlier. and president biden obviously feeling the political pressure, cnn's rosa flores is at the border in eagle pass where she's been for the week. what are you learning about the outcome of yesterday's talks? >> reporter: the words that stood out to me were used by senior u.s. officials during readouts of the readings. and what the officials said was

mexico was going to crackdown on human smuggling and committed to repatriation of migrants. those are two commitments that the united states has also made that we've been tracking in the last few weeks as well. cvp announcing enhanced crackdowns on human smuggling a few weeks ago and while the talks were happening in mexico both dhs and ice made statements about deportation flights from the united states and central america and venezuela saying it was the 11th flight to venezuela. so a commitment from both countries to crackdown on human smuggling and also deportations. now these would be legal consequences to illegal entry. now we are also learning this morning from mexico's president, there's an ongoing press conference right now. he says that large caravan that formed in southern mexico that started with thousands of

migrants has splint erred into 1500 migrants. they might be moving forward still but they're not moving in the mass, mass group. and one other detail we learned from the border patrol, including here in eagle pass, i want to note on the numbers here, it tells the story. he says that about 22,000 migrants were apprehended in the del rio sector last week. here's what we're noting out. we have been reporting the seven day daily average for migrant apprehension for the u.s. southern border was 9,600 earlier this month. if you think about that, about a third of those apprehensions were happening right here where i am. that's why last week we saw those very large numbers of migrants standing in the open field that you see behind me, sara. because just think about that, a third of the apprehensions on

the u.s. southern border were happening right here. sara? >> you had those pictures and you can see the difference. people don't know this about you, rosa. but you come from an accounting background so you always nerd out with the numbers and we appreciate it. it gives us the facts. thank you to you and your team. >> i didn't know that rosa flores was an accountant. >> yes. demolition of the house where four idaho college students were murdered. that demolition, you can see it happening, it is happening right now. this is very controversial. but i suppose the objections now too late. some families wanted the house -- families of the victims wanted this house to remain standing. and bumpy landing may not do it justice for the passengers on an american airlines flight. oh. oh wow. what happened as that plane touched down.

all right. live pictures you are looking at right now, that is the scene of that gruesome murder that took the lives of four students and that building, that home that was off campus being demolished before your eyes. you can see the crews knocking down the house where the idaho students were stabbed to death. this is happening despite some of the families of the victims pleading with the university officials to preserve the home until after suspect bryan kohberger's trial. they argued it still could potentially provide critical evidence for a jury. kohberger has been charged with

four counts of murder. a trial date has not yet been set. veronica miracle is live for us in moscow, i had hdaho this mor. watching it be torn apart knowing the family members don't want to see this, how does the university square this? >> reporter: it's an emotional and complicated issue but one that the university stands behind. just looking at the demolition, this is happening ahead of schedule, this was supposed to start at 7:00 this morning pacific time and they have taken a bulldozer. they have levelled the second floor already and they -- the university officials expected the demolition to be done in about a day. they have been wanting to tear this building down since they received it. you can see the property from campus. they say it is a daily reminder of the horrific crimes that happened here. and they want the community to

be able to heal. they want the community to move forward. they've been working with the prosecute's office every step of the way to make sure when they tore it down it would be okay. take a listen to what they had to say. >> the prosecutor last week informed us they are indeed finished with the house and there is an idaho code that says the house has been changed enough on the interior as a result of the investigation they wouldn't be allowed to take a jury there anyway. >> reporter: we have to remember that the inside of the house, the inside of the house before this teardown obviously it was cleaned by hazmat crews, they also had family members come in and get the belongings out. so there was a lot that was done here prior to this demolition. back to you guys. >> veronica miracle, thank you to you and your team there in

moscow, idaho. with us now misty maris, attorney at law. we have to say this is surprising to us because we didn't think the demolition was going to start for a while, there are still come legal issues, would an injunction happen. no, it's game over there. now the house is being torn down. how surprised are you to see it happened? >> i was shocked to see the demolition going forward before the trial. there's several reasons here. the demolition is moving forward because the owner had donated the property to the school after the murders happened. to the university. and the university is now decided that they are going to -- they want to demolish the property, this happened back in august this began to unfold. what i would have thought would happen is that prosecutors would step in and say, no way. this is a critical piece of evidence in the case. it has to be preserved like any other piece of evidence through trial. however, in this case, prosecutors did not contest the

demolition. nor did the defense attorneys. that, to me, was a pretty shocking part of this, because that structure of the house, the fact that it's three floors, the logistics of how this horrific murder could have happened is of critical importance in the trial for both sides, the prosecution and defense. so it's quite shocking this is moving forward. but we don't have a trial date yet. meanwhile the demolition is starting earlier than planned. >> the debate is academic now because you can see the pictures of the house being destroyed here. but if you were doing the prosecution, how would you have used the still standing house in your arguments? >> this is a really important point, john. this is why from a trial perspective i'm surprised. prosecutors, the district attorney made a statement they did not intend to use the house for a jury site visit. a reminder to the folks watching

a jury site visit is when the jury actually goes to where a crime occurred and takes a look. it's worth so much more to see the actual property and the actual area where this happened. particularly critical importance in this case where there's so many logistical issues about how this actually was done by one person. so the fact that we have prosecutors just saying, well, it doesn't fall under what the statute would allow. meaning the statute said if the interior is substantially different from when the crime occurred a site visit isn't permissible. that's always an arguable point. i expect the defense in this case to say it would be impossible for one person to commit this murder. the defense will likely argue it wasn't bryan, we don't know who it is. but it would be unlikely one person could do this. and it would be up to the prosecution who has the burden of proof to explain to the jurors in that box how two

murders occur on the third floor, two on the second floor and an exit on the first floor is feasible. as we talk about it right now. thinking about those logistics of what the prosecutors intend to prove with respect to kohberger, seeing the property and the staircase and angles. that's something that i would from a prosecutorial perspective fighting hard for. now there are models, technology, site visits are less common but that property is so important from an evidentiary perspective. >> and now the arguments have to be made without the jury being able to be there on both floors. misty maris, thank you so much. >> thank you, john. the reason i didn't get you a big fancy christmas present is because there was no winner

again in the power ball jackpot. and now it's $700 billion. so perhaps we can go after the show -- and kicked out of the "color purple" over the chair he was using. what happened, the controversy next.

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this way to health insurance. enroll by december 31 at coveredca.com. a very bumpy landing for an american airlines flight this morning. listen to commentator. >> ooh, ooh, ooh! ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. ooh, ooh. stop it! >> that is the best play-by-play that you will ever hear. >> stop it. >> that is not jolly. >> poor guy. [ laughter ] you have to love it. the flight was from los angeles landing at london heathrow airport when it was hit by a huge gust of wind, and look at that, it drifted, dipped, bounced and you saw it trying to

land, but thank goodness, it did land, and the powerful winds reaching up to 70 miles per hour. all right. something less of a stomach ache. now you have 760 million reasons to get a powerball ticket. no one won the jackpot last night, and i am so excited, i can't say it. there has not been a grand prize winner since october 11th. it carries a lump sum option of 382 million smackeroos and the next drawing is saturday night. oh, one more story, and i am too excited, and i can't do this one. oh, pierce. another tourist accused of breaking the rules at yellowstone national park and this time, it is former "james bond" star pierce brosnan who is accused of leaving the limited area of the park and he was cited for petty offenses for foot travel all in a thermal

area and violating the closures and in-use limits. yell loanstone is home of 500 active geysers and visitors have been caught doing bad things like taking selfies with bison and going to scalding geysers, but not john. >> no, the rules apply to remington steal. and now, amc is now apologizing after a civil rights leader was kicked out of a showing of "the color purple." bishop said that he was trying to see the film with his mother, and he was kicked out because of a special chair that he is using because of an arthritic disability. he says that he uses this chair everywhere he goes. and nick valencia is here with more. >> reverend barber has had health issues with over the years that he uses a walker and

he uses a chair with him, and he tried to set up the chair in the amc where he showed up with his 90-year-old grandmother to see the showing of "the color purple" and the staff said that he could not do that, and the staff said that barber was trespassing and trying to take him into custody and ultimately he left voluntarily, but barber saying that he was deeply disappointed how this was all handled, and he tried the give the staff grace, but they were unwilling do the right thing. >> i have been on broadway, and i have been in the white house with this chair and they have called the officer of the law and the amc in greenville, north carolina, will not do the right thing, but we will deal with it. >> reporter: barber misspeaking there calling it the ame, but it

is the amc movie theater. the leadership releasing a statement saying that the amc chairman adam aaron has telephoned reverend barber and plans to meet with him in person in greenville, north carolina, and to discuss the good works that he is engaged in throughout the years and clearly something went wrong here, john. >> indeed. nick valencia, thank you very much. as donald trump is hoping that the court in colorado is siding with him, he is looking at another legal fight that may boot him from the ballot. this time in maine. we will discuss.