Brewing Irs News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

To nine months to get approval for these statuses. yet tea party groups, 912 groups, patriot groups around the country have been waiting years now as the irs continues to string us along. >> how expensive and time-consuming was the process? i understand that they would ask you to respond to a number of questions and demands and it would take a long time. is that right? >> well, they sent a letter asking for all sorts of questions including the names or the posts that were on our facebook pages, all the comments on it, e-mails we had sent, names of senators and congressmen or supporters around ...

Be targeted at all. but there are legitimate questions about whether groups with a clear political agenda should get this special tax-exempt status. what is your argument for why your group should not have to pay taxes? >> well, with a 501c-4 status you're allowed to have an agenda. you're allowed to be concerned about issues. that that's what we're concerned about. we stand up for fiscal responsibility, constitutionally limiting governments and free markets. we've never endorsed a candidate. our primary focus has always been on legislative issues, the health care law, the debt ceiling, cap an...

That at anybody. they're not asking for sympathy here, jake. they just -- they want to go home, and they have not been able to do that ever since they were set free because of the threats that have been made against them. and that is all they want. they just -- they are not angry at the police. they just want to go home. jake? >> martin, police were back at the castro home today. any idea what they're looking for? >> reporter: yeah. it was interesting because it was here this morning and they were telling us about how they were going to open the street back up and traffic was going to resume i...

He visited asu in 2009 and the university would not give him an honorary degree because he was so new. >> president crow and the board of regents will soon learn about being audited by the irs. >> after that of course came the birth of the tea party in 2010. some of the conservative groups suspected they were treated differently by the irs but the irs commissioner appointed by president george w. bush and retired in november assured congress that was not the case. >> an organization there's absolutely no targeting. this is the kind of back-and-forth that happens when people apply for 501 c-4 s...

Decision to categorize applications. the irs says there was nothing partisan or political about it but the criticism heading their way, well, it's unrelenting and bipartisan. we'll talk to a tea party group that says they were unfairly singled out by the irs. that's later in the show. senator al franken is with us today for a rare interview. i also want to ask him about the brewing irs scandal in just a moment. but he's here also to talk about our money lead. they were blamed for playing a pivotal role in the financial meltdown but the credit agencies that rate wall street as big banks are b...