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Trump Filling His Political Cabinet; Japan PM and Trump Meet; Immigrant Fears in a Trump America. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired November 18, 2016 -   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:00:11] JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: This is CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

Ahead this hour, Donald Trump's controversial pick for national security adviser and guess who is in the running for secretary of state.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yes, him -- one of the leaders of the never Trumpers, Mitt Romney.

Building trust with Trump -- Japan's Shinzo Abe, the first world leader to meet with the U.S. President-Elect.

Plus how India's mandatory currency swap is making it impossible for some people to buy food and medicine.

Hello, welcome to viewers all around the world. I'm John Vause. NEWSROOM L.A. starts now.

U.S. President-Elect Donald Trump is adding another name to his White House staff, a transitional official says Trump has asked retired army Lieutenant-General Michael Flynn to be his national security adviser. It's not clear yet if Flynn has accepted.

Trump will meet this weekend with one of his biggest critics, 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney. A senior source says they will discuss a potential cabinet post.

The President-Elect has also met with his first world leader on Thursday Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Mr. Abe says he feels the U.S. and Japan will be able to maintain a relationship of trust with Trump as president.

Ok. Let's bring our political strategist in Mac Zilber and Republican consultant John Thomas. Guys -- thank you for being with us.

JOHN THOMAS, REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT: Thanks for having us.

VAUSE: Let's start with General Flynn. And Mac to you, given Trump's lack of experience when it comes to national security, it seems General Flynn could play a bigger, more important role than his predecessors ever had.

MAC ZILBER, POLITICAL STRATEGIST: Yes. And so General Flynn shows an interesting sign that maybe Trump won't be such a hardliner against the Middle East because Flynn has worked as a lobbyist for Erdogan, the dictator some call, of Turkey. Flynn also, you know, was criticized for sharing classified information with the Pakistani government. I mean perhaps this shows that Trump will be a lot less hard line on the Middle East.

On the other hand, I mean the fact that this controversial guy who has kind of been a little loose-lipped with classified information the idea of him being that national security adviser is a little bit concerning.

VAUSE: John.

THOMAS: It's a nice time to (inaudible) explanation. But the fact is, General Flynn has been by Trump's side since day one and they do see eye to eye on a lot of issues like calling it radical Islamic terrorism -- so that's a start; that the war in Iraq was a mistake. So it's fascinating the cast of characters he is surrounding himself with. Some see eye to eye with him and then others, like Mitt Romney, might not at all.

VAUSE: We'll get to Governor Romney in a moment but does this send a message that the old guard of the Republican Party --

THOMAS: By the way, Flynn is a Democrat.

VAUSE: I know. He is a registered Democrat. But I guess he hasn't been a Democrat for a while, I mean.

ZILBER: I think more than anything, this sends a message that, you know, Trump is surrounding himself with the people who he feels comfortable with. I mean most of his administration picks with the possible exception of Romney --

THOMAS: I don't know -- Ted Cruz? I mean come on. Do you think --

VAUSE: Nothing has been confirmed yesterday. The only thing we know is Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus and now Flynn. As you say he's been at Trump's side for a while. But he does have some controversies. Could we this being a problem going forward? I mean this position does not need senate confirmation but still he does not come without baggage.

THOMAS: No. But you know, he was fired by Barack Obama. We don't know exactly why.

VAUSE: Good thing to get -- THOMAS: That's right. I think they see eye to eye on the big

picture. And he trusts -- Trump trusts him. And in that role in particular you have to trust you are getting good information.

ZILBER: I don't think Flynn's a problem for Trump with the one exception of the classified information leaks in the past if those become a bigger story. Trump has made his bones on that as being a big issue about Hillary Clinton --

VAUSE: Yes.

ZILBER: -- and they could end up being hypocrisy as you point out.

VAUSE: Ok. The leaks keep coming from Trump Tower, now comes word that Mitt Romney is being considered as secretary of state. In case anyone has forgotten exactly what Governor Romney thinks of Donald Trump -- listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROMNEY: Here's what I know. Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud. His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He's playing the members of the American public for suckers. He inherited his business. He didn't create it. A business genius, he is not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Should make for an interesting meeting this weekend.

THOMAS: Sure, of course. I actually think -- we don't know who he is going to hire at this point. But if Donald Trump follows the vein of Abraham Lincoln and assembles a team of rivals I think it could be the perfect mix. Bringing in your former foes -- I mean people say Donald Trump holds a grudge and he couldn't possibly work with others. Well, he is bringing in his most harsh critics into the tent.

[00:05:00] ZILBER: This is a fascinating olive branch to the other side. I mean, you know, 47 percent of me thinks that Mitt Romney would be an interesting secretary of state. That being said, it just shows how far the window has moved since 2012.

In 2012, this is the guy who called himself severely conservative and now he is the face of moderation in the country -- Romney.

VAUSE: Well, it seems that the secretary of state position is being offered around to pretty much everybody. Let's take a look at the list. Currently New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, he really, really, really wants it; former deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage; former U.N. ambassador John Bolton; former treasury secretary Henry Paulson; former speaker Newt Gingrich.

THOMAS: Gingrich said he is not going to.

ZILBER: Right.

VAUSE: He also has been on the list. Where are we up to? Senator Bob Corker, Richard Haas who is currently

the president of the Council on Foreign Relations; and of course South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley who has absolutely zero experience in this area. I just wonder John, if Trump is sending a message to Giuliani, stop applying.

THOMAS: Well, I think Giuliani couldn't get confirmed. I think it's a nonstarter but Trump has been playing nice with him because Giuliani put himself out on a limb during the campaign trail. You know, I think part of this transition process, the reason it's so public and it appears chaotic although I don't think it is, because Trump is trying to condense what would normally be months and months of work in a short period of time.

ZILBER: Right.

THOMAS: Because up until the wire closed --

ZILBER: He didn't know that he was going to be appointing people.

THOMAS: Well, he didn't. Exactly right. So he is doing a good job. One thing we know is Trump is good at hiring and firing people.

VAUSE: Right. Is there any advantage Mac to all the uncertainty that Trump is creating here?

ZILBER: I mean he has shown time and time again that creating this reality show that keeps us all watching is beneficial to his brand. I mean, you know, he continues to test -- now it's the transition, this any publicity is good publicity idea.

VAUSE: Ok. You mentioned the fact that there has been some criticism that these appointments are taking so long -- maybe not necessarily a fair criticism. President Obama's former senior adviser David Axelrod tweeted this out, "We hadn't made any major appointments at this point in 2008. I don't remember being criticized for it."

Mac, that does seem to be a fair call, but whether or not the process is going smoothly is an entirely different story.

ZILBER: Right, absolutely. I don't think that the time limit is a fair criticism. I mean Donald Trump should take as long as it takes to appoint good people to these jobs. That being said, the fair criticism is that when you have guys like Steve Bannon who has ties to white nationalists, when you have guys like Rudy Giuliani and John Bolton being considered who have ties to an Islamist-Marxist group in Iran.

THOMAS: John Bolton is a well-respected former ambassador to the U.N.

ZILBER: He wants to declassify the people of Mujahedeen as not being a terrorist group in Iran.

THOMAS: He's a well-respected --

VAUSE: We have done Steve Bannon. Ok. President-Elect Donald Trump met with his first foreign leader on Thursday. It was the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Ivan Watson is standing by in Hong Kong for us with more on this. So Ivan, how did this all come together?

IVAN WATSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it seems to have been somewhat of a scramble, actually, John -- a scramble on the part of the Japanese trying to catch up with Donald Trump. Shinzo Abe had met with Hillary Clinton back in September after she initiated an invitation to those talks when he was in the U.S.

In this case it appeared that Shinzo Abe basically and his team they reached out to Trump and made the case that he was flying through New York en route to South America to the APEC conference and they decided that this would be perhaps a good opportunity to try to meet with him.

I think it's pretty safe to say that the government in Tokyo was taken by surprise by the Trump election and that Japan really depends on the U.S. for its national security, for its defense and also the U.S. is Japan's largest trading partner -- all reasons that it's very important to start what the Japanese have described as an ice-breaking opportunity, what Shinzo Abe then described as an unofficial meeting face-to-face with the President-Elect -- John.

VAUSE: And we also understand that Shinzo Abe after that meeting, he did come out and he did make a statement about how that meeting went. So can we play that sound and we'll come over back after that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHINZO ABE, JAPANESE PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Without confidence between the two nations alliance will never function in the future. And as an outcome of today's discussion I am convinced that Mr. Trump is a leader with whom I can have great confidence in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: That he has great confidence hopefully in Donald Trump but what are the big issues here for the Japanese -- Ivan?

WATSON: There are huge issues here. First of all, Japan relies, John, on the U.S. and the deployment of some -- more than 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan as an integral part of its defense policy. And Trump has floated during his candidacy the idea that perhaps those troops could be withdrawn if Japan doesn't pay more money for housing those troops there.

[00:0:956] Trump also floated the idea that Japan might need to develop its own nuclear weapons program which has raised some really big questions. Also Trump making no secret about the fact that he wants to get rid of the Transpacific Partnership, the TPP which is a central part of Prime Minister Abe's economic policy moving forward, something that he thought would be an engine for economic growth in Japan.

These are all big issues that he would need to potentially talk about in future meetings with Donald Trump. Japan also feeling very vulnerable right now not only because of Chinese military expansionism into the South China Sea, into the East China Sea; you have Japan and China having a little kind of skirmishes, face-offs with their navies over disputed islands; but also with North Korea doing rocket tests nearly every month, a number of nuclear tests just in the last year alone.

All of these things are real reasons why Japan looks with anxiety when it has heard some of the campaign rhetoric coming from Trump running up to the election. And perhaps one of the reasons why a top aide to Abe said that they were basically told by the Trump campaign not to take everything necessarily so seriously that was said during the divisive campaign period now that Trump has been elected president -- John.

VAUSE: Ok. Ivan -- thank you. We appreciate that.

But Mac, just on the politics of this -- this is a break in protocol for the President-Elect. Normally the first meeting with a foreign leader would be with a major ally like Great Britain, maybe Australia or Canada or something.

ZILBER: Yes. Well I think that he does need to reassure Japan because he said a lot of stuff specifically to them that's got to be worrisome. The notion that they have to pay their own way and frankly his threats to China on currency manipulation apply almost as much to Japan which under Abe has pursued a really aggressive monetary policy that I don't think Trump would be ok with.

VAUSE: Should the Japanese be worried?

THOMAS: I don't think so. I think everything we have seen out of Trump so far has been a much more moderated and controlled Trump. I don't think so.

And here's the reason I think it's ok that he is having these meetings. Trump doesn't have the relationships that somebody who's been in government might have. So he is trying as quickly as he can to form these relationships of trust. And so far so good it appears.

VAUSE: He was lucky he got a meeting. Apparently the Australian prime minister got Trump's phone number from a golf partner who knew a caddie.

ZILBER: Is that right?

VAUSE: He basically got hold of Donald Trump.

THOMAS: Apparently, Trump knows every caddie in the world.

VAUSE: Ok. Mac and John -- we'll see you guys next our. Also Ivan Watson in Hong Kong -- we'll see you next hour as well. Thank you very much.

We'll take a short break. When we come back, swastikas painted on churches and Muslims to get out -- fears hitting some U.S. communities that this is the new reality in a Trump America.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: If you live in the greater Atlanta metro region you know that there has been a thick layer of smoke blanketing the city for the past several days. I myself am a runner, tried to get outside today and also had difficulty breathing as did many of you.

[00:15:00] You can see some of the forest fires that have flared up across parts of North Carolina into Tennessee. And you can also see the predominant winds coming from a northerly direction.

This is all behind a cold front that settled in across the region and that has allowed for very dry conditions to move across this area and also reducing our visibility with the smoke and haze settling in across this major metropolitan region making breathing sensitivity very dangerous for elderly people with asthma perhaps or also the extremely young individuals out there.

Here's a look at the rest of the country. We have active weather across the Pacific Northwest as a cold front moves in. A few showers near the border of Texas and into Mexico. Other wise a week-old front moves across the New England coastline, not really impacting much. New York will stay dry into the early parts of the weekend, 15 for your day time high. 10 degrees if you're located in Chicago; Atlanta, 22; Denver, 16; Los Angeles at 28. We stay dry into San Francisco, 21 for your Friday.

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VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody.

Racist and bigoted harassment in the U.S. has surged since election night. A civil rights group says by Monday, it had collected more than 400 reports of hateful intimidation and many of them involved direct references to Donald Trump.

Stephanie Elam has one Muslim man's story from Seattle, Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Since last week's tide-shifting election messages of hate, some invoking President-Elect Donald Trump's campaign rhetoric have emerged across the nation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: "We won, now get your ISIS-loving family out of this country or we will do it ourselves and make America great again."

ELAM: The day after Trump won, a Muslim family in a Seattle suburb found this threatening letter at their home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are American. We are Muslim.

ELAM: The man and his wife have lived in the U.S. for more than 20 years. Their children were all born here. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: America great because this country have allowed a

lot of good knowledgeable people to come here to make America great.

ELAM: the son who found the letter shredded it but not before taking a picture. He was afraid it would scare his parents. The father says he is not afraid but remains vigilant and above all he wants to protect the most important person in his life, his wife.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing going to happen to her while I'm here. But I'm worried if she will do work (ph) she stays at home most of the day. I don't know how to be scared.

ELAM: Do you think that Donald Trump should take some of the blame for the behavior that we have seen across the country?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, he should take some of the blame. He should actually become a president of all America. This is his responsibility. If you want to make this country continue to be strong, the number one country in the world you cannot bring this weapon down, the strongest weapon you have being diverse.

ELAM: Trump addressed this spate of threats and assaults telling Lesley Stahl on "60 Minutes" --

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: I would say don't do it. That's terrible. Because I'm going to bring this country together.

LESLEY STAHL, "60 MINUTES": They are harassing Latinos, Muslims.

TRUMP: I'm so saddened to hear that and I say stop it. If it -- if it helps -- I will say this, and I'll say it right to the camera, stop it.

ELAM: This man hopes the person who wrote the letter will see this and come talk with him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will defend the value of America all the time and the value of being Muslim all the time. Ignorance usually creates fear and fear creates hatred, and hatred creates violence and violence creates more hatred. And we cannot continue in this cycle until we break it with knowledge.

ELAM: And find common ground in love of country.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Stephanie Elam joins us now alongside sociologist Anna Akbari. Anna is the author of "Start up Your Life: hustle and act your way to happiness".

Stephanie just on the story you just did. I'm assuming we didn't identify them because they're worried about their safety, is that right?

ELAM: He's not worried about his safety. He's worried about his wife being fearful. And you know, he says that she's at home all day long, he doesn't want her to feel threatened. And so that is why he didn't show his face. But he hopes because he knows whoever wrote this letter will see it and come talk to him about it.

VAUSE: Ok. This is in Seattle. This is not the Deep South.

ELAM: No. A blue state.

VAUSE: This is on -- the left coast, you know, the more progressive, the more liberal state. Take the other side here. Has anyone reached out to this family to give them support?

[00:19:56] ELAM: Yes. Actually the way he found out about this because his son tried to keep it from him was people coming down who had seen the picture of the letter and were coming to show support for the family where they lived.

And also previously in 9/11, they lived in Utah and at that time, the community rallied around them and made them feel very safe. So it is a very different aspect of what he's seen of America. And he's lived in this country longer than he's lived in any other country.

VAUSE: Right. So this is home.

ELAM: Yes.

VAUSE: Anna, we keep seeing these examples everywhere. A family in Wisconsin they received a racially-charged letter and they're called race traitors. The letter read, "We won, you lost, you need to stay separate, not equal." Students at a volleyball game in Texas held up signs and chanted "Build a wall." That's just a couple of the incidents in the last 24 hours or so.

On the other side there has been violence against Trump supporters as well. So this goes both ways.

ANNA AKBARI, SOCIOLOGIST: Yes, it does go both ways. And to your point, it's not just in the Deep South. It's happening in areas like New York City. It's happening at liberal universities and in the Bay Area. So really it's everyone's problem.

And I think we have to be really careful not to characterize all Trump voters as participating in these hate crimes. I see that as dangerous as something like stop and frisk. When you characterize an entire group in a particular way, it shapes their behavior and it shapes the way they perceive themselves and it disenfranchises them.

VAUSE: Well, there are 60 million of them so it would be a concern if they are all involved.

During an interview on CBS, the comedian Jon Stewart who has been sadly missed since he went off the air on "The Daily Show" he made the point that no one actually asked Donald Trump what he thought made America great. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JON STEWART, COMEDIAN: And I think what many would say what makes us great is America is -- America is an anomaly in the world. Nobody -- there are a lot of people and I think his candidacy has animated that thought that a multi-ethnic democracy, a multi-cultural democracy is impossible. And that is what America by its founding and constitutionally is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: And Stephanie, your report, the Muslim family, the man you spoke to he kind of made the same point that the diversity aspect of this country is its strength, is its greatness.

ELAM: It's the great melting pot, right. That is what America has been known for. And he was saying these fresh minds that have come in to the pool here have allowed America to be what it is. And for a lot of people who may be spewing hate even for their relatives who also probably came to the country for that freedom and to speak to that.

And so it's something that I think this man wishes the President-Elect would address more. That this is its greatness and in a way to unify around that instead of allowing us to sort of bubble up and people to feel emboldened to say perhaps what they didn't feel they could say in the last eight years.

VAUSE: And Anna to that point how has the campaign sort of ripped the lid off what may have been an undercurrent of racism and bigotry there? How has this campaign emboldened that small fraction of people who feel it's ok to leave these notes and to attack a family?

AKBARI: Yes. Well, I think there is a lot of conversation around who to blame. And I think we can't help but attach some of this to the rhetoric that Trump used during the election. And so if his rhetoric helped to give rise to it I think it's leadership that can help to usher in a time when that is no longer acceptable. And that is what we are really looking to him for right now.

VAUSE: And Stephanie, when you went to the Trump rallies many reporters have commented when they were there just how angry -- some, not all -- but how angry some of his supporters were.

ELAM: Lots of anger. And I think there is something to be said about folks who are in Middle America and I think there's something to say about white folks in Middle America who felt like no one is thinking about us. No one is caring for us and that anger was pervasive at Trump rallies. You could feel it. And you could feel that things that Donald Trump would say that they would take it and adopt it as something that was very important and passionate to them as well.

VAUSE: It would light up the room sometimes.

ELAM: Oh, definitely.

VAUSE: Anna many keep saying and you said that the President-Elect needs to come out. He needs to make some kind of major statement here. What's the responsibility do we have -- and when I say we, not just here in the United States because we are seeing these kinds of attacks, these racially-motivated attacks around the world, the sort of right-wing rise of hatred across Europe and in many other places.

AKBARI: I think it's an international call for what we might call deep listening and conversation. And that goes beyond a protest and that goes beyond merely looking at a camera and saying don't do that. You know, we need both on the leadership side, we need to see repeated public calls to action against this. We need to see it denounced by our leadership but we also need to see in our communities real conversation where we are listening to each other and we're hearing why are these people so angry on both sides.

ELAM: It's a very different experience when you talk to someone face to face --

AKBARI: That's right.

ELAM: -- who had found a letter like this at their home. It's a very different experience when you have a conversation with someone who feels like they've been left out of the system.

AKBARI: Yes.

[00:25:02] ELAM: And that conversation is not happening. It's just people are seeing these instances and there is no connection. And that is the one thing I have noticed in traveling and covering politics as I've had over the last year and a half or so. When you go out there, that's what's not happening. People are so separated that they're not coming together and finding that common ground.

VAUSE: Anna to that point, you said deep listening.

AKBARI: Yes.

VAUSE: No one wants to listen right now. People just seem to want to yell. How long are they going to yell for? When will we start the listening?

AKBARI: Well, that's where I think leadership comes in. That's where I think we need to see that Donald Trump is listening to these individuals that feel disenfranchised. And I hope that once he demonstrates that he is doing that, that perhaps more of his followers will do the same.

VAUSE: Ok. Anna -- thank you. Stephanie -- thanks for staying back. Appreciate it.

ELAM: Good to see you.

VAUSE: And we'll take a short break.

When we come back, a Seattle mom is inspiring kids to write letters to Donald Trump. We'll tell you about the simple messages he is about to receive from thousands of kids.

Also many people in India can't exchange their currency to buy the medicine they need. We'll take you live New Delhi in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles.

I'm John Vause with the headlines this hour.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he feels the U.S. and Japan will be able to maintain a relationship of trust with Donald Trump as president. They met in New York just a few hours ago. It's Trump's first meeting with a foreign head of state since he won the election.

Residents say air strikes and barrel bombs are falling like rain on eastern Aleppo. At least 45 people were killed on Thursday. It's the third day of relentless government air strikes on rebel-held neighborhoods. The U.N. says a quarter million people are trapped in the besieged city.

[00:30:02] A car bombing at an Iraqi wedding party has killed at least 20 people, wounded 40 others. ISIS claimed responsibility for the blast in town just southeast of Fallujah. Several of the victims were children and witnesses tell CNN the groom is among the dead.

To India now where even those who have the money are struggling to buy food and medicine. Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised the nation last week by announcing he was discontinuing 500 and 100 Rupee notes. That's 80 percent of the total cash in circulation.

Mr. Modi is trying to crack down on tax evasion. The old notes are being replaced by a new version of the 500 and now a 2,000 Rupee note, but many people say hospitals, pharmacies and shops just can't make change for those larger notes.

CNN's Alexandra Field joins me now live from New Delhi.

So, Alexandra, this is causing a whole lot of hardship for people who can least afford it.

ALEXANDRA FIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, this came without any notice, John, so it's created chaos, its created confusion and there are continued consequences. I want you the see, just down this block here, outside of this ATM, you can see the line stretches all the way down there. These are people who have come out. They wait for hours. They wait for days.

They are here early in the morning and late at night trying to get the new notes out of those ATMs, which continually have to be restocked. These means that everyday there are some people who are walking away empty handed. There are others who are walking away with bills that they say are simply too big for them to use right now, and in some cases they tell us when it comes to trying to buy things like necessities, they are completely out of luck.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) FIELD (voice-over): Outside a public hospital in New Delhi, people are feeling the pain of change. Ram Kishur (ph) brought his 11-year- old son here for medicine but he will leave empty handed.

He says, "I will probably go back to my village tomorrow. I'll come back whenever I manage to get change. What option do I have?"

A nationwide cash crunch is hitting hundreds of millions in the pocket. Now I'm suffering for some of the sick.

"We can't use the new 2,000 rupee notes," he says. "We managed to exchange our money to get the new notes, but now the medical stores are saying they can't take that note because they don't have change."

(on-camera): The new notes are twice the size of what was in the market just a week ago. That means you got a lot of retailers who simply can't make change and that's frustrating if you are buying basic goods, but if you need something like medicine, the effects, the consequences can be down right dangerous.

(voice-over): The problem gets worse as more and more of the country's new 500 Rupee notes and 2,000 Rupee notes hit the market. Small bills like 100 Rupees are still in use, but it can be tough to get your hands on them.

Some ATMs are tapped out. There are long lines at others. People are still lining up for days or hours to exchange old money. 500 and 1,000 Rupee notes taken out of circulation with little notice.

"What Modi was great but the implementation has been extremely poor. This is very unfair for the poor people."

Continued fallout felt by the masses from the prime minister's plan to crack down on the rich, who he says are hoarding cash that's unaccounted for.

This decision came without any warning. Do you understand Mr. Modi's plan? Can you support it?

"We don't have a problem with Modi running the government," he says, "but please stop this ban on notes." "If you have to do it, do it properly, slowly with a plan. This is making our lives very difficult. People who came for treatment are going back to their villages. For some, that's just one hard choice.

She tells us "My son wants to eat and it only costs 10 Rupees, but I only have a 2,000 Rupee note. The shopkeeper won't change the note or keep the food in credit. My son has been crying. What do I do?"

For now, Ram Kishur (ph) says the only thing he can do is ration the little medicine he has left for his son. He will come back to New Delhi whenever cash frees up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FIELD: And right outside this bank, there are armed police officers who are keeping an eye on the crowd, trying to keep the situation safe and people are being patient despite the fact that they might have to wait hours to get cash. Still they tell us, they are convinced that this plan will amount to pain on the rich, because who are avoiding taxes. To them that makes all this worth it.

But when we talk about the cash crunch itself that we're seeing right now, John, it really does hit the poor and it hits the middle classes because these are people who do not credit cards, these are people who do not have debit cards in a lot of cases so they really do need that change in order to buy things like prescriptions, food, other necessities.

VAUSE: The law of unintended consequences strikes again.

Alexandra, thanks so much.

And this cash crisis comes right in the middle of India's wedding season. Many Hindus choose to marry in November and December. They usually pay for everything with cash. The government has up the limit of what those families can withdraw from the bank.

But the lavish wedding for the daughter of one Indian politician has sparked outrage reportedly costing $75 million. Many point out that people with that much wealth are not standing in long lines, struggling to swap out their currency.

[00:35:18] Well, still to come here, in the immortal words of the singer Glen Campbell, you've got to try a little kindness. That's what one mother wants thousands of kids to do with Donald Trump. She joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: For many parents, it has been a year-long question how do you explain this nasty U.S. presidential election to kids. When her 5- year-old son told her he was worried, Molly Spence Sahebjami showed him what he could do.

She helped him write a letter to President-elect Donald Trump asking him to be nice. Children organize a Facebook telling other parents to do the same. They're just shy of 9,000 members, the growing community is appealing to Donald Trump's softer side.

Molly joins us now via Skype. She is in Seattle. Thank you for being with us.

Looking at some of the letters from these very young kids, it's great advice. This one especially.

Dear Mr. Trump, be kind, please. Signed from a little boy, Tommy.

That would seem to be pretty good advice, not just for the president- elect but for a lot of people right now.

MOLLY SPENCE SAHEBJAMI, ORGANIZED LETTER CAMPAIGN: It would. And I want to tell you, john, it actually broke 10,000 members tonight. So it's still quickly growing and we expect it to continue to grow quickly.

And I think people are attracted to this movement, parents, because they don't know what to say to their kids. There are a lot of kids where I live in Seattle and other places with my Facebook friends around the country, where the kids, they were upset the day after the election.

There were things that Donald Trump had said during the campaign that beyond politics and policies that were just unkind about certain groups of people. And kids knew that. They were concerned about that.

And so, this has been, I think, for a range of ages a way, you know, letters that are really simple, like you said with the rainbow and simple words to more, you know, articulate and detailed statements of what they want from their president.

VAUSE: I want to read one of those more -- sort of a more thoughtful letters if you like and this comes from Abby, just 6 years old.

Dear Mr. Trump, Kids in my class are very scared. Please don't kick them out. In my school we get sent to the wall when we're in trouble. My friends did not do anything wrong, don't sent them to the wall.

What were the guidelines that you put out there for these letters, by these kids.

SAHEBJAMI: So the guidelines that I put out is I -- we called it Dear President Trump. And we called it president, rather than president- elect, because we thought this was me and a couple of friends who brainstorms together, who we're all in the same situation.

[00:40:00] We want it to live on, you know, beyond this period of time and go through the time that he's president. And its letters from kids about kindness. And the rules are that you need to be a productive communicator and you can write a letter to Donald Trump. You can address it to the incoming first lady, Melania, as well. And you can talk about why it's important to be kind and why that is important to you personally in your life.

And so the intent here is to --

(CROSSTALK)

VAUSE: Sorry, I don't want to cut you off. I do want to get to this one last letter, because we're getting a little short on time.

It really shows how diverse this country is. And this comes from Jason Bernstein, again, sixth grade. "I have close friends who are gay, lesbian, black and Hispanic. My hockey coach is gay and he and his partner's children are black. My babysitter is a lesbian. My family is Jewish also. I hope you do what you said in your acceptance speech on Election Day, to be president of all Americans."

This kid is so politically aware, it's unbelievable. But I'm just curious, have you had any negative feedback? SAHEBJAMI: Yes, we have had negative feedback. And -- and I think that that is strange. I think that kindness is not a partisan issue. The feedback has come from the letters do tend to be -- they appear to be from more liberal leaning families. And I am trying to create it as really multi-partisan or non-partisan or whatever you want to call it.

And, you know, it can be whatever kids want. If they want to say congratulations, I supported you and here's some advise, that's great. If they want to say I worry about you and I have some advice and encouragement for you, that's great, too.

You know, if kids don't have any advice for him about being kind or don't have anything to say about him being kind, then I think it's probably not for them. But clearly it's for a lot of people so far.

VAUSE: Absolutely. Molly, keep up the good work. It's great. Thank you so much.

SAHEBJAMI: Thank you. Appreciate it. Bye-bye.

VAUSE: OK.

And thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM live from Los Angeles. I'm John Vause. "World Sport" is up next. You're watching CNN.

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