meeropol; but in 1950, they were michael and robby rosenberg, ages seven and three, living in new york city's lower east side with their parents, juliusthel rosenberg. the rosenbergs were ardent communists, but michael doesn't recall his parents ever using that word. ethel was a stay-at-home mom who loved to sing; julius, an engineer who ran a small machine shop. that's michael on his shoulders. >> michael meeropol: my father would take me to places like prospect park and, you know, get some peanuts and feed squirrels. >> cooper: what was he like? >> michael meeropol: he was very energetic. he had a smile on his face a heck of a lot of times. and i remember traveling around with him. in fact, i rode on the subway with him so often that i kind of wondered, you know, when he was working. >> cooper: and your mom? what was she like? >> michael meeropol: she was very affectionate, a lot of hugging and kissing. and i remember that she was often cooking. the thing i remember is just a... a normal life. >> cooper: but then, in the summer of 1950, f.b.i. agents began rounding up a network of alleged communist spies. on july 17, they knocked on

in 1997, when julius rosenberg's former sovha feklisov, went public with tales of julius' spy missionsoviet union, feklisov had this to say about ethel rosenberg: >> feklisov: ethel never worked for us. she didn't do anything. >> cooper: based on this information, robert and michael meeropol launched a campaign to clear their mother's name. in 2015, they got 13 members of the new york city council to issue a proclamation declaring the government wrongfully executed ethel rosenberg. >> robert meeropol: it is time for the federal government to step up and do the same. ( applause ) >> cooper: last year, they launched a petition drive, calling on president obama to exonerate their mother before leaving office. but historian ron radosh told us, given the documents he's seen, that would be a mistake. >> radosh: she was an accessory to spying by helping, identifying people, urging people to be re... recruited, suggesting that her own brother be recruited. this is aiding those who are spying. it's aiding and abetting. >> cooper: you're saying even though she wasn't as involved as her hu

the government said julius rosenberg was a master spy who led an spy ring that stole the secret of themic bomb and gave it to the soviet union in 1945. julius was guilty of espionage, but it didn't have anything to do with the secret of the atomic bomb. he had no knowledge of this. it's hard for me to believe that my mother didn't know about what he was doing. but there is no credible evidence that my mother participated in any way. this was the great red scare, the mccarthy period. the government was saying there was this international communist conspiracy that was out to destroy our way of life. fear makes powerful people do very dangerous things. the trial at which they were convicted was a travesty. we now know the judge secretly communicated with the prosecution, that evidence was fabricated. the chief prosecution witnesses perjured themselves. the government of the united states used the death penalty, not as punishment, but as extortion. the purpose, as one of the fbi agents put it, we didn't want them to die, we wanted them to talk. there was a worldwide movement and mass movem

the government said julius rosenberg was a master spy who led an spy ring that stole the secret of theit to the soviet union in 1945. julius was guilty of espionage, but it didn't have anything to do with the secret of the atomic bomb. he had no knowledge of this. it's hard for me to believe that my mother didn't know about what he was doing. but there is no credible evidence that my mother participated in any way. this was the great red scare, the mccarthy period. the government was saying there was this international communist conspiracy that was out to destroy our way of life. fear makes powerful people do very dangerous things. the trial at which they were convicted was a travesty. we now know the judge secretly communicated with the prosecution, that evidence was fabricated. the chief prosecution witnesses perjured themselves. the government of the united states used the death penalty, not as punishment, but as extortion. the purpose, as one of the fbi agents put it, we didn't want them to die, we wanted them to talk. there was a worldwide movement and mass movement, even within t

the very one that sent julius and ethel rosenberg to the electric chair.hey stole the plans to the atomic bomb. donald trump talk to an attorney about adoption law. both massive threats to the physical and moral security of this country. cnn thought so. it's three hour morning show spent a total of two hours and 16 minutes discussing russia today. that left just under 8 minutes for the new health care bill being debated in congress and 2 minutes for sports. pretty much nothing on anything else. 93% of air time devoted to russia. keep in mind, that show was shot in new york, not in st. petersburg. mark stein is an author and a columnist, and also canadian, so he knows what a moral frenzy looks like. he joins us tonight but mark, i've never seen -- she would've thought somebody lit a cigarette in a restaurant forgot to recycle. that level of rage. >> you want to take this seriously, that trump punk kid is headed for the electric chair. it's good enough to the rosenbergs, it's good enough for this kid. >> tucker: needless to say i agree as a responsible news

that's julius and ethel rosenberg for giving the atomic bomb. okay? that is what president trump said on air force one, going way back in history here. the case of the rosenbergs interestingly is from 1953. they were both executed for giving away secrets to the russians here. donald trump was 7 years old at the time. and this is something that obviously, a case he remembers from his childhood, but certainly saying that, you know, going to the extreme there setting a high bar here, but the reality here is, john, this is something on the president's mind. it is frustrating to them. the white house is also now frustrated trying to get more of their stories together, because as shimon just was reporting, now that there is new information about that meeting, it discounts all the credibility that the white house has already been explaining this week by saying there was nothing to that meeting. and there was nothing that came out of it. this is something, again, why congressional investigators and likely the justice department also want to know more about it

my goodness, not even julius and ethela rosenberg were charged with treason. don't you lose credibility when an important democrat like tim cain makes such a ridiculous reckless accusation? >> we need to be careful about the terms we use because it is one thing to say there was collusion or there was treason, and that's lovely to throw these terms around. again i'm not a lawyer. i have two masters degrees. i'm not ready to say either of those things because i cannot prove that there is the legal definition being met of either treason or collusion. >> tim cain's a lawyer, and he should have known better. brad, it's been about a week since the trump jr. story came out, and, you know, initially, they didn't exactly give a full account of the events, and every day as a consequence of that, there's been a new and somewhat damaging revelation. could it have been handled with more full and forthcoming information by the trump administration? >> there's no doubt about it. first and foremost, that meeting never should have taken place. i disagree with the president tha

that's julius and etss he will rosenberg for giving the atomic bol. many of you know don. he is a good boy, a good kid. he is 39 years old, just ten days younger than french president macron. in the coming days, trump junior may get another chance to explain the e-mail. republican chuck grassley, you remember diane feinstein, both say they want the president's son to testify under oath as soon as next week and they may be willing to use their subpoena power to make it happened. the person who suffered the most damage is probably his brother-in-law jared kushner. we now know definitively that this meeting last summer with the russian lawyer was one of three meetings with russian nationals last year chflt kushner failed to disclose on security forms under penalty of perjury. one, setting up away from the prying eyes of u.s. intelligence. and the other the head of the sanctioned bank. kushner had to revise the forms and later confirmed by nbc news, he supplemented the list of foreign contacts three times, adding more than 100 names. joining me, member of the house say this is