0 you said, the fact that they actually did it, they had a number of opportunities. the beginning of this year when they took control for the 113th congress in the senate and back in july of this year they warned they were trying this. both times they headed it off through the gentleman agreements. that s been the tradition in the senate. you get close to this and then you back away. this time that came from out of nowhere. harry reid had set this up. harry reid majority senate leader. set this up with key votes on judicial nominees. or did it come out of nowhere? because could this have been an orchestrated strategy, some people are saying for distraction, from obama care. others are saying so that the president could get something done in his second term because isn t a passive admission that his agenda is not going to go anywhere so at least he can appeal to his political base and get some of the federal judgeships and nominations in place? both of those. actually both of those.
Devastating storms could continue today especially in that red area you see on your screen. we will continue to alert you as the situation changes. jenna: turning to some other news that we re watching today as well. one of the most valuable companies in the world avoid paying billions and billions of dollars in u.s. taxes? that is the question members of the senate subcommittee are asking about apple. the company s ceo tim cook is in the hot seat today. elizabeth mcdonnell has the latest on that. senator rand paul just made appliea applies terg attack not on apple but the u.s. congress. he s saying it s outrageous congress has hauled i in apple s ceo and cfo to testify. he says congress should apologize to apple that apple is being harassed over the tax laws that the u.s. congress writes. this is an ongoing hearing that we are tracking throughout the day. let s take a listen to what
reports the tornado was at least an ef4, the second most powerful class of twister, with winds between 166 and 200 miles an hour. on the ground for some 40 minutes as well. we ll be updating you on the aftermath and the search for survivors throughout the hour and we have a live report from the scene in moore, oklahoma just ahead. first, though right now brand-new stories and breaking news. jenna: the white house offering a new account of what it knew and when about the investigation into the i.r.s. s targeting of conservative groups. a live report just ahead, a hearing on the hill as well. also state department official raymond maxwell lost his job after the deadly terror aback in benghazi. he is now accusing hillary clinton s team for scapegoating him for the failures that led to the deaths of four americans. he is speaking out, we ll tell you what he s saying. and convicted killer jodi arias set to speak to the jury today, deciding whether she will live or die for her crim
Program is part of the problem is our incredibly complex tax code and who asks to have the tax exempt status and who doesn t. elizabeth mcdonnell has been looking into this. what about the argument that the irs needed to have more scrutiny about groups because there was so many a phaoeug to not pay taxes. if there s hearings you can bet that the irs officials will number one say we can t discuss this due to the nixon era confidentiality laws unless they can get a waiver from the nonprofit groups skwraout niced. he will site the skew bream court citizens united case and including social welfare groups. that happened in and around the same time. the supreme court decision occurred at the same time the cincinnati office was launched in 2010 a computer spread sheet that said, quote, be on the look out for tea party groups. jenna: was there an indication that they were worried specifically that the tea party groups themselves would be
workers to create a quote, be on the lookout list, targeting hundreds of conservative groups resulting for substantial delays for them. holding up their applications for tax-exempt status for years in some cases. however, con pick with usly missing from the conspicuously missing from the report, how the tax agency came to target the groups. specifically who ordered who to do all of this. this as the fbi launch as criminal investigation into the scandal. today lawmakers on capitol hill will have their chance to demand accountability. chief congressional correspondent mike emanuel is live on capitol hill with more on this story. mike, you just spoke with senator mitch mcconnell. what can you tell us about that conversation? reporter: jenna, there is definitely some i told you so from senator mitch mcconnell because the republican leader was one of the lawmakers up on capitol hill hearing from constituents, tea party groups that they were being harassed by the irs. mcconnell