sergeant jim crowley wrote in his report that the woman had identified two men at the house as black, but 911 tapes showed the woman said she was not sure what the man looked like. >> i was called racist and i was the target of scorn and ridicule because of the things i never said. >> gates was arrested but the charges later dropped. thursday, sergeant crowley, a professor gates, and president obama will meet for a beer at the white house. >>> the race for virginia governor is on. according to a poll, republicans are leading the way. at 55% of those polled said they would vote for republicans, bob mcdonnell over creigh deeds. both feared better than their democratic counterparts. >>> they have been talking about it for years. now microsoft and yahoo have reached a search deal that gives microsoft access to the search engine audience, which is the second largest behind google. it is a 10-year partnership. >>> it looks like there is a reprieve for financially-ailing sligo creek golf course. it was scheduled to be closed october 1, the dow county executive ike leggett once the county cou

in afln view with our affiliate whdh, jim crowley tells kim casey that he had no choice but to arrest henry louis gates jr. in gates's own home. >> i really didn't want to have to take such a drastic action because i knew it was going to bring a certain amount of unwanted attention on me. nonetheless, that's how far professor gates pushed it and provoked and just wouldn't stop. >> nbc's ron allen is in cambridge, massachusetts. ron, i know we're only moments away from the sergeant speaking publicly again. he has done a radio and tv interview and maybe a couple. is there more we're learning right now, either from the sergeant or from others involved? >> well, i think the other thing that is going to happen at that press conference, the union is really going to step forward and defend sergeant crowley in a very strong way. there are also reports the union is going to demand an apology from president obama and massachusetts governor patrick to sergeant crowley for taking sides in this essentially and supporting professor gates m -- in this altercation and back and forth. we'll see if tha

i think middle americans like jim crowley don't want to hear this racist talk and they're not falling for it. some day we might find that rush and glenn beck were paid by the democratic party. the only way i can think they'd do such damage to the democratic party. >> we'll have to add that to our list of things to find out. some are suggesting that the president's health care plan is a back door for slavery reparations. how fringy is this going to get and when and how do they go mainstream? >> well, you know, it is fringy, but i will tell you that is the thing i worry about. you and i both know that race and ethnicity has been used to to divide us and specifically to create fear around people getting jobs that someone else deserves for people getting support. npr featured an interview with a man who said obama wants to take health care away from whites and give it to minorities, which, of course, isn't true. at the time of crisis and chaos, there is a little more potential for these scare tactics to make people think they're going to take it away from me and give it to them. i worry a

. >> i just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley, the officer involved. have to tell you that as i said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was an outstanding police officer and a good man and that was confirmed in a phone conversation. i told him that. the closbecause this has been rg up, i want to make clear that in my choice of wordsd, unfortunately i gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department or sgt crowley specifically. i could have caliber those words differently and i told this to the sergeant. -- i could have calibrated those words differently. there was a overreaction in pulling professor gates out of his home to the station. i continue to believe based on what i heard that professor gates probably overreacted. the fact that this has become such a big issue is indicative of the fact that race is still a troubling aspect of our society, whether i were a black or a white. i think that the comments on this and hopefully contributing to constructive as opposed to - understandings about the issue -- negative unders

. >> i actually does have a conversation with sergeant jim crowley. >> admitting he contributed to the uproar, he said he could have calibrated his words differently and put a bit of the blame on both sides. >> there's an overreaction in pulling professor gates out of his home. professor davis probably overreacted as well. >> at an earlier news conference, crowley did not speak, but his supporters did, saying he went by the book interesting gates last week. >> after its own intensive investigation, the cambridge police department also expressed its support for a sergeant crowley, clearing him of any wrongdoing. >> he told w. agh thursday that gates was immediately confrontational when he and another officer responded to a call about two black males breaking into the house. >> i said i was investigating a break-in in progress. he responded, why, because i am a black man in america? in a very agitated tones. >> his version is at odds with what gates told cnn. >> i demanded to know his name in his badge number. he would not say anything. i said are you not responding to me because you are

. >> i actually just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley. involved. >> president obama under pressure admitted he had helped stoke the controversy. and he reached out. and sought a different path. >> at the end of the conversation, there was discussion about -- my conversation with the sergeant crowley, there was discussion about he and i and professor gates having a beer here in the white house. we don't know if that's scheduled yet, but -- but we may put that together. >> if we all learned something this week, we can only hope. >> my hope is that as a consequence of this event this ends up being what's called a teachable moment. where all of us instead of pumping up the volume spend a little more time listening to each other. >> listening to each other. the conversation will continue no doubt respectfully, we hope. and when we come back, sarah palin will formally resign as governor of alaska this weekend. she's the subject of tonight's "closing argument."

you'll see right here, sergeant jim crowley, the officer who arrested harvard professor skip gates. his bosses, his comrades, co-workers, stepping up to the mikes, showing support for him. our don lemon was actually there at that news conference, on the phone with us now. don, i understand you had a chance to talk to some of those cops just a few minutes ago. >> yeah, kyra, and boy, oh, boy, was it emotional. not only did i get a chance to speak with some of the police officers. i got a chance to talk to sergeant crowley himself. he didn't want to comment much on camera, because, you know, he's been advised and has given his word not to talk any more on good advice, he says. but, you know, we went into a room. it was an exclusive with him and about 20 of the officers, most, if not all, of the officers who were on that podium with him. and i got to tell you, it ended with tears and -- and hugging. and, kyra, these were officers who were black, hispanic, white, asian, women, all standing around this officer, supporting him, saying, when i heard about what happened, i thought they abso

. >> i actually just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley the officer involved and i have to tell you that, as i said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was an outstanding police officer and a good man and that was confirmed in the phone conversation and i told him that. and i... because this has been ratcheting up and i obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, i want to make clear that in my choice of words, i think i unfortunately gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department, sergeant crowley specifically. and i could have calibrated those words differently and i told this to sergeant crowley. i continue to believe based on what i have heard that there was an overreaction in pulling professor gates out of his home to the station. i also continue to believe based on what i heard that professor gates probably overreacted as well. my sense is you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved and the way they would have liked it to be re

i actually just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley, the officer involved. i have to tell you that as i said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was an outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in a phone conversation, and i told him that. because this has been ratcheting up, and i obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, i want to make clear that in my choice of words, i think i, unfortunately, gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department or sergeant crawly specifically -- or sergeant crowley specifically, and i could have calibrated those words differently. i continue to believe based on what i have heard that there was an overreaction in pulling a professor gates -- in pulling professor dates out of his home into the station. i also continue to believe that professor dates -- professor dates -- professor gates overreacted as well. my sense is you have two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved an

. >> i duly just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley. >> reporter: admitting he contributedhe uproar, the president said he could have calibrated his words differently and put a bit of the blame on both sides. >> there was an overreaction in pulling professor gates out of his home. professor gates probably overreacted as well. >> reporter: at an earlier news conference, crowley didn't speak, but his supporters did, saying crowley went by the book in arresting gates last week. >> after his own intensive investigation, the cambridge police department also expressed support for sergeant crowley. clearing him of any wrongdoing. >> reporter: crowley told a boston news affiliate thursday that gates was immediately confrontational, when he and another officer responded to a call about two black males breaking into the house. >> i said, i'm sergeant crowley from the cambridge police department and i'm investigating a break-in in progress. and he responded why, because i'm a black man and an american? in a very agitated town. >> crowley's version is at odds with what gates told cnn.

a reminder that while gates, sergeant jim crowley and the president may want to put the incident behindhem, not everyone is ready. gates' attorney says his client is laying low after undergoing a humiliating experience. >> when i saw him in the jail that afternoon i was heartbroken because i could tell that he had a earth-shattering experience. >> reporter: but something positive could still emerge. >> this incident actually is a spark plug for constructive, informative, uplifting and ultimately educational dialogue about where we are in the race question. >> reporter: the president said he, too, is hoping for honest dialogue. >> where all of us, instead of pumping up the volume, spend a little more time listening to each other. >> reporter: the conversation is already under way in nearby martha's vineyard where gates has a home and the president will be vacationing next month. many are still wondering how the incident could have ended with an arrest. >> once he showed he lived in the house what was the purpose of him being arrested? >> i do think this is an example of how black men do

. >> regardless of who the person in this case, were you to have been in the shoes of sergeant jim crowley, how would you have handled the situation? >> i can tell you that after 24 years of being a police officer, there are a lot of times i've been in those situations and other officers, too. i think the primary job of the police officer is to deescalate escalating situations. with the experience this officer has regarding race and sensitivity and all of that, he should have been deescalating the situation rather than escalating it in the kind of way that ended up in mr. gates getting arrested. a number of police officers in those situations never end up in an arrest situation. >> how about, did you leave any room for sergeant crowley arresting a white man who had done the same thing? >> well, i had to say, i just don't think that would have happened. i don't think it would have ended in an arrest. i know for a fact because i've seen it, witnessed it, heard stories about that there are two kinds of services that take place sometimes in our community. the white community gets an all togeth

i just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley and i have to tell you that as i said yesterday, my impression of him was that he is a outstanding police officer and good man and that was confirmed in the phone conversation and i told him that. and i -- because this has been ratcheting up and i obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, i want to make clear that in my choice of words, i think i unfortunately gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department or sergeant crowley specifically and i could have calibrated those words differently. i continue to believe based on what i have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling professor gates out of his home to the station. i also continue to believe based on what i heard, that professor gates probably overreacted as well. my sense is you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way it should have been revolved and the way they would have liked it to be resolved. the fact that it has garnered so much attention, i think is a testimon

. >> i just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley -- >> admitting he contributed to the uproarpresident said he could have calibrated his words differently. >> there was an overreaction in pulling professor gates out of his home. professor gates probably overreacted as well. >> at an earlier news conference, crowley didn't speak. but his supporters did, saying crowley went by the book in arresting gates last week. >> after an intensive investigation, the came bridge police department also expressed its support for sergeant crowley clearing him of any wrongdoing. >> crowley told whdh thursday that gates was immediately confrontational when he and another officer responded to a call about two black males breaking into the house. >> i said i'm sergeant crowley from the cambridge police department investigating a break-in in progress. he responded, why, because i'm a black man in america? >> crowley's version is at odds with what gates told cnn. >> i demanded his name and badge number. he wouldn't say anything. he was very upset. he said are you not responding to me because you're

. >> reporter: sergeant jim crowley's police report states that whalen identified the two men as blackher 911 call shows otherwise. >> were they black or hispanic? >> there were two larger men. one looked kind of hispanic and i'm not sure. the other entered and i didn't see what he looked like at all. >> now that the tapes are out, i hope people can see that i tried to be careful and honest with my words. >> reporter: even with that evidence, whalen has been under attack. still, given the choice she said she would make that call all over again. >> i've had much reflection on that and, yes, i would make the call. i would absolutely do that. >> reporter: the police officer, the professor and the president will meet at the white house for a beer. so far whalen hasn't been invited. her attorney says maybe it's a guy thing. and, besides, her client doesn't like beer. yunji de nies, abc news, new york. >> we have a developing story baom massachusetts this mornina. by taken from the womb of its murdered mother is alive and well. darlene haynes was eight months pregnant when she was found dead

i actually just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley, the officer involved.sterday he was an outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation, and i told him that. and i -- because this has been ratchetting up and i obviously helped to contribute ramptchettg it up, i want to make clear that in my choice of words i think i unfortunately gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department and sergeant crow lu specifically. i could have calibrated those words differently. and i told this to sergeant crowley. i continue to believe, based on what i have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling professor gates out of his home to the station. i also continue to believe, based on what i heard, that professor gates probably overreacted, as well. my sense is you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved and the way they would have liked it to be resolved. the fact that it has garnered so much atten

a moment last week when both rush and other right-wing blowhards were trying to recruit and use jim crowley. you could really have imagines perhaps a different sort of man. maybe falling for it and saying maybe the problem isn't a black president, but instead you have a guy come out and say very gracious thing about both professor gates as well as the president and vice president, and so i think it is -- i think middle americans like jim crowelly don't want to hear this racist talk and they're not falling for it, some day we might find rush and glenn were paid by the democratic party. the only way i can think they'd do such damage to the democratic party. >> we'll have to add that to our list of things to find out. some are suggesting that the president's health care plan is a back door for slavery reparations. how fringy is this going to get and when and how do they go mainstream? >> well, you know, it is fringy, but lie tell you that is the thing i worry about. you and i both know that race and ethnicity has been use ed to divide us and specifically to create fear around people getting jo

. >> i actually just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley. >> reporter: admitting he contributed to the uproar, the president said he could have calibrated his words differently. and put a bit of the blame on both sides. >> there was an overreaction. in pulling ploe fesor gates out of his home. professor gates probably overreacted as well. >> reporter: at an earlier news conference, crowley didn't speak, but his supporters did. saying crowley went by the book in arresting gates last week. >> after his own intensive investigation, the cambridge police department also expressed its support for sergeant crowley. clearing him of any wrongdoing. >> crowley tells boston's nbc affiliate, whdh thursday that gates was immediately confrontational, when he and another officer responded to a call about two black males breaking into the house. >> i said i'm sergeant crowley from the cambridge police department and i'm investigating a break-in in progress. and he responded why, because i'm a black man in america? in a very agitated tone. >> i demanded to know his name and his badge number. he

we're going to do a very brief statement by sergeant jim crowley, and we will open it up to just a fewng so everyone's not screaming them all at witness, that would be greatly appreciated. >> good evening. first, i'd like to thank the police officers from cambridge, from my hometown, and from massachusetts and across the country for your overwhelming support to me and my family during this difficult time. during this ordeal, one of the challenges was to make clear across america what a difficult job. we had a cordial and productive discussion today with the president, vice president and professor gates. we have all agreed that it is important to look forward rather than backward. issues important to all of us will form the basis of discussions between professor gates and me in the days and weeks to come. professor gates and i bring different perspectives to these issues and very agreed that both should be addressed in an effort to provide a constructive outcome to the events of the past month. thank you. >> also here with us is dennis o'connor, the president of the cambridge police sup

. >> sergeant jim crowley declined to apologize for the arrest. >> there will be no apology. >> but the disorderly conduct charges against gates were dropped and yet few people defend gates' claim of racial profiling. the suspension of jus ton barrett for allegedly referring to gates with a racial slur shows not everyone has learned from this teachable moment. in a picture-taking session with the philippine president, mr. obama says what the media is calling a beer summit is just three guys something ing having a beer at the end of the day and not trying to get gates an crowley to apologize to each other. >> it's an attempt to add some personal interaction when an issue has become so hyped and so symbolic that you lose sight of just the fact that these are people involved, including myself, all of whom are imperfect. >> the p president also hopes this beer summit serves as a book kend to this controversy so he can stop talking about it and return the country's focus to healthcare reform, and it might, unless professor gates sues. bret: we will see what comes out of it. thank you, wendel

he would accept president obama's invitation to meet with him and the cambridge police sergeant jim crowley at the white house. what is your take on that response from professor gates? >> that sounds right to me. but i would assume he would like pi pinot noir over beer. we had a cheering section going on when we heard barack obama speak so forth rightly about what sounded like his clear understanding of the anxious relationship between african-americans and the police. and so there was similarly some booing that happened in that same quadrant today as he, you know, sort of backed away from some of it. all i want to say to that is we already have seen what a presidential administration looks like when folks start calling names and refuse to listen to criticism or back down. that's what w did. he called people the axis of evil, assumed there were weapons of mass destruction when there were none and he refused to meet with or listen to critics. although, you know, there are times i wish barack would be a little more like, you know, the black professorial group that wanted to charge forward on

he was originally trying to defend in this e-mail that he wrote to the bos ton globe, sergeant jim crowley, who arrested professor gates? he answered all the questions that he was asked. he did not use a lawyer and he has been generally consistent, generally consistent. let's compare. take a listen. >> you gentlemen agree to disagree on a particular issue. i don't think that we spent too much time dwelling on the past. we spent a lot of time discussing the future. >> i have two guests, going to be lined up. they are going to be taking us through this. we will be having the conversation with syracuse university professor, boyce watkins, always a great guest on these type of issues and any kind of issue, actually. retired nassau counsel it i retired officer lou palombo. many of you told us that guy was excellent. i enjoyed listening to him. so he is back. he is going to analyze these officer's responses and what it tells us about them and the way they have responded to their controversies. >>> i want to catch you up on the beer controversy. cnn's candy crowley. >> reporter: on a humid summer

one of those reports caught the eye of an aspen police detective named jim crowley. >> the blast killed triano, a prominent tuscon businessman. >> reporter: gary triano, it was a name crowley had seen before in a fraud investigation involving a man named ron young. and who brought young to crowley's attention? none other than pam phillips, gary's ex-wife. the connection was the website, starbabies.com. pam hired her then neighbor ron young has the business manager for the site. but it wasn't long before pam accused ron of skimming money from starbabies. she went to detective youty. did she have a case? >> we don't know because she never came back and she refuse today answer my calls after that. >> reporter: so she originally came to you and made a complaint and then -- >> backed off, yes. >> reporter: and never told you why? >> no. >> reporter: and that struck him as strange, until the detective discovered ron young was her boyfriend. pam denied this, but police found evidence to the contrary. love letters and notes from pam were found in ron young's aspen apartment. in the meantime, tw

plus, beers of choice have been revealed for the president obama, henry louis gates, sergeant jim crowleyawkward knees up at the white house this week. two medium cappuccinos, you're ready for the mid-morning rush thanks to a good breakfast. one coffee with room, one large mocha latte. medium macchiato, light hot chocolate hold the whip, and two espressos. make one a double. she's fiber focused! i have two cappuccinos, one coffee with room, one large mocha latte, a medium macchiato, a light hot chocolate, hold the whip, and two espressos, one with a double shot. gonna take more than coffee to stay this focused. stay full and focused through the morning... with a breakfast of kellogg's® frosted mini-wheats® cereal; an excellent source of fiber that helps you avoid... the distraction of mid-morning hunger. no thanks, i'm good. i hate my phone. what do i do? ( shouting ) this is crazy. you. let's run a free upgrade check. see if you're due for a new smartphone. don't i need to go to my carrier's store for that? no, you don't have to. we sell phones and plans on all the major networks. ok. we

professor henry louis gates and sergeant jim crowley will throw back, if you want to use that language, a cold one with the president thursday at the picnic table outside the oval office. just now white house press secretary robert gibbs spoke about this much-anticipated meeting. >> i think the picture alone will communicate that despite the incident, despite what happened, despite what was said after that, we can still sit down and discuss issues that are important like this. >> and joining us live msnbc political analyst and friend of the show, lawrence o'donnell. good to see you. >> good to be here. >> donny said earlier that you get testosterone and guys and beer and you can work it out. is that what's happening here? >> this is a political show. this is nothing but that. nobody involved wanted this to happen a week ago, and now it has to happen or they can't move on. look, you know, sergeant crowley is -- if this was any other case, he'd be in more trouble every day because his police report is not holding up. once you start playing the tapes, they promised us, his union guys prom

plus, beers of choice have been revealed for the president obama, henry louis gates, sergeant jim crowleyg awkward knees up at the white house this week. welcome to the now network. population: 49 million. right now 1.2 million people are on sprint mobile broadband. 31 are streaming a sales conference from the road. eight are wearing bathrobes. two... less. - 154 people are tracking shipments on a train. - ( train whistles ) 33 are im'ing on a ferry. and 1300 are secretly checking email... - on a vacation. - hmm? ( groans ) that's happening now. america's most dependable 3g network. bringing you the first and only wireless 4g network. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. >>> did you know that the average goldman sachs employee will make more money this year than he or she did in 2007? which was before the old disastrous financial crisis that required a massive taxpayer bailout in barney frank will be here to discuss that with us in a moment. first it's time for a few holy mackerel stories in today's news. in the six

president obama, henry louis gates and jim crowley. the three men at the national firestorm over race will finally sit down at 6:00 p.m. eastern time. that is show thyme, you might say. the president convened the summit after calling both men last week trying to defuse what became a tense situation and escalated into a national discussion after the white police sergeant arrested the prominent black harvard professor, but there has been one change of plans. the meeting will no longer take place at a picnic table outside the oval office, instead at a table in the more beautiful rose garden. the white house press secretary just spoke about tonight's big meeting. >> i think many people would have hardly imagined something like this happening this time last week. i think that kind of dialogue is what has to happen at every level of -- every level of our society if we are going to make progress on issues that have -- we have been dealing with for quite some time. >> nbc's savannah guthrie is joining us from outside the white house. there are

i actually just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley, the officer involved. and i have to tell you that as i said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was outstanding police officer and a good man and that was confirmed in the phone conversation. i told him that. because this has been ratcheting up and i obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, i want to make clear that in my choice of words, i think i unfortunately gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department or sergeant crowley specifically. i could have calibrated those words differently. i told this to sergeant crowley. i continue to believe, based on what i have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling professor gates out of his home to the station. i also continue to believe, based on what i've heard, that professor gates probably overreacted as well. my sense is you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way it should have been resolved and the way they would have liked it to be resolve

we are going to do a very brief statement by sergeant jim crowley and then we will open it up to justat people raise their hand or something so everybody is not screaming them all at once that will be greatly appreciated. thank you. >> good evening. are you all here to see me? first, i would like to thank the police officers from cambridge from my hometown and from massachusetts and across the country for your overwhelming support to me and my family during this difficult time. during this ordeal, one of the challenges was to make clear to people across america what a difficult and challenging job police officers face every day. we had a cordial and productive discussion today with the president, vice president, and professor gates. we have all agreed that it is important to look forward rather than backward. issues important to all of us will form the basis of discussions between professor gates and me in the days and weeks to come. professor gates and i bring different perspectives to these issues and have agreed that both perspectives should be addressed in an effort to provide con

beer at the white house on thursday as the president cracks open a cold one with henry gates and jim crowley. the president will have a bud, officer crowley, a blue moon. no word on gates's choice of brew. >>> i always have a graest guest co-host to join me and this morning i'm pleased to have carrie elveld with me. >> good to see you, carlos. >> much to talk about including the surprise trip to iraq by the secretary of defense. we kind of lost focus on iraq as we are talking about afghanistan more recently. >> a lot going on in afghanistan. it is sort of a powder keg and not clear what is going to happen with afghanistan and gates has asked for 20,000 more troops now. it doesn't surprise us that we've sort of taken a glance away from iraq to see what is happening in afghanistan. >> the possible repeal of don't ask, don't tell. your thoughts on that. is there real movement you think on this issue? >> well, just the hearing in and of itself is real movement. and it's kind of fascinating actually. because they have announced the hearing but there's no senate bill, which is sort of unprecedente

the president inviting both sergeant jim crowley and professor henry gates to the white house for a beer and conversation hoping the incident becomes a lesson to improve race relations. we have been hearing a lot from you on how the week transpired. here is some of what you have been saying on my blog. steve says, it is amazing that we pat ourselves on our collective backs saying that we elected our country's first black president. however whenever the president speaks as a black man he is accused of race baiting or playing identity politics. jim m. says -- if this is a learning moment, as professor gates and president obama say, then let's talk about police procedure when called out to a possible burglary in progress. when an officer arrives he says, at a possible burglary, two men were reported, everybody in the house, around the house is a possible suspect and maybe even a threat. steven says, watching tv today, i laughed when the comment was made, that there was some testosterone in effect. while i agree, i also understand why, i can understand the humiliation and anger that professo

. >> i actually just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley, the officer involved. and i have to tell you that as i said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was an outstanding police officer, and good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation. and i told him that. and i -- because this has been ratcheting up, and i obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, i want to make clear that in my choice of words, i think i unfortuna unfortunately gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department or sergeant crowley specifically. and i could have calibrated those words differently. and i told this to sergeant crowley. i continue to believe, based on what i have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling professor gates out of his home, to the station. i also continue to believe, based on what i heard, that professor gates probably overreacted as well. my sense is you got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved and the way the

i actually just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley, the officer involved, and i have to tell you that as i said yesterday my impression of him was that he was an outstanding police officer and a good man and that was confirmed in the phone conversation, and i told him that. and i -- because this has been ratcheting up and i obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, i want to make clear that in my choice of words i think i unfortunately gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department or sergeant crowley specificically, and i could have calibrated those words differently and i told this to sergeant crowley. i continue to believe based on what i have heard that there was an overreaction in pulling professor gates out of his home to the station. i also continue to believe based on what i heard that professor gates probably overreacted as well. my sense is you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved and the way they would have liked it to be resol

i actually just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley, the officer involved. and i have to tell you that, as i said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was an outstanding police officer and a good man. and that was confirmed in the phone conversation and i told him that. and because this has been ratcheting up and i obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, i wanted to make clear that in my choice of words, i think i, unfortunately, gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department or sergeant crowley specifically and i could have worded that differently. i told this to sergeant crowley. i continue to believe based on what i have heard that there was an overreaction in pulling professor gates out of his home to the station. i also continue to believe based on what i heard that professor gates probably overreacted as well. my sense is you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved and the way they would have liked it to be r

i actually just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley, the officer involved, and i have to tellou that, as i said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was an outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation. and i told him that. and i -- because this has been ratcheting up, and i obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, i wanted to make clear that in my choice of words, i think, i unfortunately, i think, gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department or sergeant crowley specifically. and i could have calibrated those words differently. and i told this to sergeant crowley. i continue to believe, based on what i have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling professor gates out of his home to the station. i also continue to believe, based on what i heard, that professor gates probably overreacted as well. my sense is you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved and the way they would have l

professor gates, sergeant jim crowley there together. we know what happened.professor gates arrested in his own home by sergeant crowley. want to hear from you on this one. what do you hope for? what do you hope comes out of this? call in. .

i just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley, the officer involved, and have to tell you, as iesterday, my impression of him was that he was an outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in a phone conversation, and i told him that. because this has been ratcheted up, and obviously have to help contribute, i wanted to make clear that in my choice of words, and i think i unfortunately gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police departments or sgt crowley specifically, and i could have calibrated those words differently, and i told that to the sergeant. i continue to believe there was an overreaction in pulling professor gates out of his home and to the station. i also continue to believe that based on what i heard, prof. gates probably overreacted, as well. my sense is that you have got to give you a good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way it should have been resolved, in the way that would have liked. the fact that it has garnered so much attention, i think, is testimony to the f

sergeant jim crowley says there were no apologies. >> what you had today was two gentlemen agreed toisagree on a particular issue. i don't think that we spent too much time dwelling on the past. we spent a lot of time discussing the future. >> any contribution to the discussion? >> it regarded to beer. >> that's pretty much it? >> he contributed in a small part. but he really wanted to bring two people together to try to solve not only a local issue in cambridge, but what has became a national issue. >> reporter: crowley, and the man he arrested for disorderly conduct in his own home, professor henry louis gates, will meet again. >> i would like to disss and see professor gates' perspective. he has the credentials to enlighten me a little bit. >> reporter: this time, in private. and maybe without beer. >> maybe kool-aid or iced tea. >> reporter: he wrote that there's many with the fears of policing on one hand. and the genuine fears about racial profiling on the other hand. president obama heralded the friendly, thoughtful conversation. for the brief part of the meeting i witnessed,

it won't come from me as jim crowley and won't come from me as sergeant of the cambridge police department. whatever anybody else chooses to do in the name of the city of cambridge, it's beyond my control and i don't worry about that. i know what i did was right. i have nothing to apologize for. >> sergeant james crowley there arrested gates on a disorderly conduct charge. and he wrote in his police report that gates became belligerent upon questioning. gates dispute that and said he'd forgive crowley if he told the truth. >> i haven't heard from sergeant crowley, i would be prepared to listen to him. if i were convinced that -- if he would tell the truth about what he did. about the distortions that he fabricated in the police report. i would be prepared as a human being to forgive him. that would not deter me from using this as an educational opportunity for america. if this can happen to me in harvard square, this can happen to anybody in the united states, and i'm determined that it never happen to anybody again. >> now, during a prime time address last night, president obama said he t

i just had a conversation with sergeant jim crowley, the officer involved. have to tell you that, as i said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was an outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in a phone conversation. and i told him that. because this has been ratcheting up, and obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up, i want to make clear that in my choice of words, i think i unfortunately gave an impression that i was maligning the cambridge police department or a sword and crawly specifically. i could have calibrated those words differently -- or a soccer -- or sgt crawley. i continued to believe that there was an overreaction in pulling professor gates out of his home to the station. i also continue to believe, based on what i heard, that professor gates probably overreacted as well. my sense is, you have got to good people -- you have two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way it should have been resolved and the way they would have liked it to be resolv

with professor henry louis gates and the police agent jim crowley. rowley who made the recommendation of sitting down with a beer with professor gates and president obama at the white house. he enjoys blue moon beer. the police officer complained about getting the media off his lawn. the president said he has a similar problem. see here. professor gates and president obama are friends. the president told us that when he spoke out on the incident last wednesday night at his prime time news conference. we are told professor gates' beer of choice is red stripe or beck's. the question now, what will president obama drink? >> the president had a bud. >> uh-oh. we had a little technical difficulty. let me recap what he told us yesterday at the briefing. he said that the president had a budweiser at the all-star game known as an all-american beer, and so it sounded like all indications were that that would be what the president would have thursday evening. we will be watching and waiting to see how the beer summit goes and how everybody gets along, and gibbs