, we entered into the congressional record our testimony honoring the life of ambassador john christopher stevensin the interest of time i won't read the entire congressional record but only an excerpt. it said mr. speaker, i rise with my colleagues to honor, celebrate and remember ambassador john christopher chris stevens. a son of northern california and the bay area, ambassador stevens tragically lost his life in the greatest service to his country. selflessly and courageously representing american values in a foreign nation he knew intimately and cared for deeply. in his diplomatic capacity, ambassador stevens brought a profound and prolific knowledge of arab world and middle east to his assignment. his exemplary gift for making personal connections was invaluable as his role as specific representative and ambassador to one of the most complex and challenging regions of the world. therefore as we join in recognizing ambassador stevens am myself midst a sober outpouring of praise from his family, colleagues, fellow americans and the leaders of this nation, we remember also that chris stevens w

today we honor and celebrate ambassador john christopher stevens in this civic celebration of his life. i thank the stevens family for hosting this celebration here. amongst his many friends, his family, his colleagues from around the world who continue to reremember and celebrate his distinguished life and sacrifice he made for all of us. while we have lost a true hero to our nation, his accomplishments and generosity lives on in all the places he that served, promoting mutual respect and cooperation in international relationships. ambassador stevens is an inspiration to all of us. i did something personally. i texted my daughters who also grew up in the bay area. they have always reminded me that they love being san franciscans. now as young adults they pride themselves in being world citizens. this is that place. san francisco and the bay area, where we have our attitudes and evolve ourselves to be not only great san francisco and bay area citizens but the inter national status of our city and bay area promote us to be world citizens. i'm pride to be mayor of a city that embraces pe

. >> reporter: john christopher stevens the first u.s. ambassador killed in the line of duty in 33 years. just 52, stevens died in what's now called a terrorist act in libya on september 11th. libya's ambassador apologized for not protecting one of america's best. >> we lost a friend. we lost a supporter and a hero. >> reporter: retired diplomat tom pickerring mentored stevens. >> they still make them like they used to. >> reporter: pickerring now heads the investigation into the killing of stevens and three other americans. stevens parents told me today's gathering was a celebration of how their son lived. not how he died. >> it's not important who your mother is only and not just important who your father is. it's very important who your big brother is. we had the very best. >> reporter: those who knew and loved him best described a little boy who loved life and rarely stopped smiling. >> so my big brother, my best friend, i'll see you next time. >> reporter: so ended this celebration of the life of a great american who died trying to ma

. >> reporter: john christopher stevens the first u.s. ambassador killed in the line of duty in 33 years. just 52, stevens died in what's now called a terrorist act in libya on september 11th. libya's ambassador apologized for not protecting one of america's best. >> we lost a friend. we lost a supporter and a hero. >> reporter: retired diplomat tom pickerring mentored stevens. >> they still make them like they used to. >> reporter: pickerring now heads the investigation into the killing of stevens and three other americans. stevens parents told me today's gathering was a celebration of how their son lived. not how he died. >> it's not important who your mother is only and not just important who your father is. it's very important who your big brother is. we had the very best. >> reporter: those who knew and loved him best described a little boy who loved life and rarely stopped smiling. >> so my big brother, my best friend, i'll see you next time. >> reporter: so ended this celebration of the life of a great american who died trying to ma

why they loved their big brother long before most of us had ever heard of the ambassador john christopher stevenso was killed in libya at the age of 52. rita williams, ktvu news. >>> let's go back inside now to city hall. here we see u.s. representative barbara lee she is speaking at the memorial for chris stevens as she just finished presenting the congressional record. next expect to hear from schultz. we also heard from the libyan ambassador to the united states as well as san francisco's mayor ed lee. >>> david stevenson is also following that memorial service in san francisco and david joins us once again now live from outside of city hall. >> reporter: ambassador christopher steven's death has ignited a political fight over the safety of political interests. inside city hall there are hundreds who are setting that issue aside and sitting inside city hall to pay tribute to stevens. we're hearing george schultz speak inside the rotunda. his family sited his long term ties to the bay area. today we heard from national leaders and international leaders about stevenson's achievements. >> he's th

christopher stevens grew up in piedmont and graduated from uc berkeley and ucsf hastings school of law. john alston shows us the outpouring of praise tonight. >> reporter: the memorial began with a video narrated by christopher stevens himself. >> now i am excited to return to libya to return the great work we have started. it is building a solid partnership between the united states and libya to help you, the libyan people a you chief your goals. the libyan people to achieve their goals. >> his brother talked about the last time they said goodbye several months ago. >> now that it is time to say goodbye, i don't see any reason to deviate from that custom. so my big brother, my best friend, i will see you next time. >> on september 11th, stevens was killed during a terrorist raid on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya. three other americans also died. among the speakers was the libyan ambassador to the u.s. who said stevens stood with the libyan people during their revolution against qaddafi. >> we are sorry we cannot protect the diplomat who came to help us in a critical time. >> christop

christopher stevens grew up in piedmont and graduated from uc berkeley and ucsf hastings school of law. john alston shows us the outpouring of praise tonight. >> reporter: the memorial began with a video narrated by christopher stevens himself. >> now i am excited to return to libya to return the great work we have started. it is building a solid partnership between the united states and libya to help you, the libyan people a you chief your goals. the libyan people to achieve their goals. >> his brother talked about the last time they said goodbye several months ago. >> now that it is time to say goodbye, i don't see any reason to deviate from that custom. so my big brother, my best friend, i will see you next time. >> on september 11th, stevens was killed during a terrorist raid on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya. three other americans also died. among the speakers was the libyan ambassador to the u.s. who said stevens stood with the libyan people during their revolution against qaddafi. >> we are sorry we cannot protect the diplomat who came to help us in a critical time. >> christop

stevens will be held later on today. bob, good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you, john. the family of ambassador christopher the public to attend his memorial service at 4:30 here at the rotunda at san francisco city hall. as you may be well aware, he was a native of the bay area. he lived in piedmont, he went to school at cal and uc hastings law school before entering the foreign service and eventually becoming the u.s. ambassador to libya. several hundred people are expected at today's service. his brother and sister are expected to speak. also in attendance, lkzibya's ambassador to the united states, senator dianne feinstein and thomas pickering. ambassador stevens and three other americans were killed during a september 11th attack on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, libya. yesterday his former boss, secretary of state hillary clinton, took responsibility for the security lapse, possibly in an attempt to shield her boss, the president, from further criticism, especially since he has a second debate tonight with governor mitt romney. secretary clinton points out security is a state department responsibili

christopher stevens grew up in piedmont and graduated from uc berkeley and ucsf hastings school of law. johng of praise tonight. >> reporter: the memorial began with a video narrated by christopher stevens himself. >> now i am excited to return to libya to return the great work we have started. it is building a solid partnership between the united states and libya to help you, the libyan people a you chief your goals. the libyan people to achieve their goals. >> his brother talked about the last time they said goodbye several months ago. >> now that it is time to say goodbye, i don't see any reason to deviate from that custom. so my big brother, my best friend, i will see you next time. >> on september 11th, stevens was killed during a terrorist raid on the u.s. consulate in benghazi, three other americans also died. among the speakers was the libyan ambassador to the u.s. who said stevens stood with the libyan people during their revolution against qaddafi. >> we are sorry we cannot protect the diplomat who came to help us in a critical time. >> christopher stevens was a participant. he was

new questions asked of the president and white house of the murder of ambassador christopher stevens and three others. johnerry is rumored to be the president's choice to be hillary clinton's replacement. all 18 members of which, republicans and democrats, have signed a letter acceptability to the administration asking for a full accounting of the benghazi terrorist attacks and the events in yemen and egypt. the white house continues to give every appearance of stone walling, both the congress and the press. almost three weeks have passed since those attacks, and leaked from within the white house, an intelligence community suggests the obama administration has been involved in an outright cover up. there are reports tonight that officials within the administration were concerned from the very beginning about the message the white house chose to push after the attack. the attack that was spontaneous they said, and not at all the work of terrorists. here's white house spokesman jay carney back on the 14th of september. >> the incident in benghazi, as well as elsewhere, but these are all being investigated,

hundreds gathered in san francisco city hall for a memorial for ambassador christopher stevens who was killed last month in libya. john alston shows the outpouring of praise. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> reporter: the memorial began with a video narrated by ambassador stevens himself. >> i'm excited to return to libya to continue the great work we've started. building a solid prime minister between the united states and libya to help you the libyan people people libyan beam. >> reporter: the service attracted political dignataries and stevens' immediate family. his brother talked about the last time they said good-bye several months ago. >> now that it is time to say good-bye i don't see any reason to deviate from that custom so my big brother, my best friend, i'll see you next time. >> reporter: september 11th, stevens was killed in libya, three other americans also died among the speakers was the libyan ambassador to the u.s. who said stevens stood with the libyan people during their revolution against qadhafi. >> we are again sorry we could not protect this professional diplomat who came to help news a critical time. >> reporter: the

ambassador, christopher stevens, were killed. republican arizona senator johnccain saying this is quote, now the worst coverup e life, end quote. seen in the senator now calling on the white house to declassify and release surveillance video from benghazi. meanwhile, democrats argue the terrorist attack on the consulate is being politicized. >> now we know that there were tapes, recordings inside the consulate during this fight and they've gotten-- they came and the fbi finally took those and now classified as quote, top secret. why would they be top secret? >> any impartial observer who looks the at what happened in benghazi would have to say this situation's been politicized. governor romney himself realizes that his actions and his reaction was unbecoming for potential commander-in-chief and he's backed off. >> those comments and that point of view. >> harris: national security correspondent jennifer griffin has been out in front of this story from the very beginning and broke the news that urgent calls for help during the the attack from americans underfire

christopher stevens, and the murders of three other americans, as a spontaneous t-rex a film trailer posted on the internet. and republican senators johnn, lindsey graham and kelly ayotte yesterday sent their second letter to the cia director and other intel leaders asking in part whens intelligence community decided it was a terrorist attack. they write, our questions should not be hard to answer, and the american people have a right to learn what our intelligence communities knew about events of september 11th, 2012, and when they knew it. congressman buck mckeon, chair of the house armed services committee, says the president's team keeps, quote, digging a bigger hole. >> this to me, it looks like they're trying to hush this whole thing up, hope it goes away, and wait till after the election. they're wrong. the american people are getting engaged in this. everywhere i go, people talk to me about this. they're concerned. >> but democrats are pushing back, saying republicans are using this tragedy to, quote, score political brownie points. >> barack obama is no more responsible for what happened in benghazi than george bush was respon