this is "nightline." >> tonight, cardi b. versus the conservatives. the "i like it" rapper -- ♪ he's so handsome what's his name ♪ >> clapping back at critics of her new video "twerk." shaping up the conversation about female empowerment in the "me too" era. are videos like these helping or hurting women? let him finish. chris christie setting the record straight on the president. what he really thinks about trump's inner circle. >> you read about the "game of thrones" quality to the rivalries there. >> there are a lot of people there who have no business being there. >> who does he save his harshest criticism for? ♪ in the shallow >> a "shallow" shock.

lady gaga's mega surprise for her little monsters in vegas. ♪ we're far from the shallow now ♪ >> first here are the "nightline." >> jimmy's gotten used to his room smelling like sweaty odors. he's gone nose blind. he thinks it smells fine but his mom smells this. luckily for hard to wash fabrics there's febreze fabric refresh. it eliminates odors you've gone nose blind to. try febreze unstoppables for fabric. with up to twice the fresh scent power you want to try it again and again and maybe just one more time. indulge in inresistible there are moments in life that leave a lasting impression. like the feeling of movement as a new journey begins, or the sight of soft fur, warmed by the morning sun. you might remember new flavours, the sound of an old friend's laugh, or a view that defies all expectations.

these are the memories that stay with you, long after the moments have passed. good evening and thank you for joining us. over the course of a week, chart-topping rapper cardi b. battled conservative

commentators, called for an end to the shutdown ask, and received 77,000 votes to deliver the state of the union rebuttal. tonight abc's linsey davis on how these feuds are creating a new conversation about female empowerment. ♪ if you wanted to >> reporter: she is the brash and bold star behind chart-topping hits like "bodac yellow" and "i like it." ♪ like a pinata >> reporter: cardi b., stripper toured household name, no strachbl tore red carpets or controversy. the megastar with a monster following throwing down in two online twitter battles. one against conservative darling tomi lahren over the government shutdown. the other following a release of the music video "twerk" with the city girls featuring 20 of the world's top twerk eswho competed to be in the video. >> i honestly couldn't believe what i was seeing.

i mean, it looked like pornography and a strip club put on a beach and a bunch of women dancing. i mean, pretty much almost nude. >> reporter: the suggestive content drawing ire from some online. conservative commentator stephanie hamill tweeting, in the era of #metoo how exactly does this empower women? cardi b. slamming back, it says to women that i can wear and not wear whatever i want, do whatever i want, and no still means no. stephanie, chime in. if i twerk and be half naked does that mean i deserve to be raped and molested? i want to know what a conservative woman thinks. their twitter feud launching a debate over the thin line between body positivity and objectification over the "me too" movement. >> the next day i started seeing thousands of comments, retweets. >> reporter: with cardi's tweet came a firestorm of backlash for stephanie. >> i'm just very surprised about the reaction.

while some people agreed with me, i thought more of the feminists would be coming out and defending me on this one. and instead people were calling me racist, they were body shaming me for not looking like cardi b., they were just going after my character. >> reporter: hamill responded to the rapper's tweet and the online fallout with an online video. >> i 100% agree, no means no, no matter what. but what i'm trying to say is this video and others like this sexually objectify women. so some are wondering what my comments have to do with "me too." last i checked "me too" wasn't just about women speaking out about sexual harassment and abuse, but it's also about empowering women and gender equality. >> your reaction to the now infamous video "twerk"? >> looked like they were having fun. you know, a little body envy, maybe. but aside from that, just looked like young girls having a really good in my opinion. >> reporter: jamilah lemieux is a writer and communication

strategist. >> what we really need to focus on, as opposed to condemning women for the ways in which they choose to present or use their bodies, we need to interrogate the systems and structures that make it difficult for them to do so without repercussions. >> when you first saw the video, did you anticipate backlash? >> i didn't. i think i've seen so many videos that are so, you know, rich with booty-shaking and girls dancing that it surprises me that people are still up in arms about these things. but i also recognize that cardi is becoming a crossover star in many ways. she's a super bowl pepsi ad -- >> what have we learned today? >> i want a pepsi. >> she's the rare hip-hop star that your mom might wa know by name because she saw her on "the tonight show." >> cardi b.! >> she's speaking out on what's going on with the government. >> trump is now ordering federal government workers to go back to

work without getting paid. >> you point to her and say, this is a woman who is living her truth, who's made the best of some really interesting career twists and turns from strip club to reality show to being one of the biggest stars in music, and there are things that can be learned from that. >> reporter: despite the criticism, the video that flamed the controversy is not unlike many music videos of the past. like sir mix-a-lot's "baby that." nicki minaj's "anaconda." both featuring women dancing in a sexually suggestive manner. it's long been known that sex sells. scantily clad women used to push everything from magazines like "sports illustrated" -- >> grass-fed beef. >> reporter: to carl's jr. with entire franchises like victoria's secret built on the aspirational female form. but in recent years, many women have been reclaiming their

bodies, using sexuality as a tool for empowerment, like emily ratajkowski, who was bashed after appearing nearly naked in robin thicke's "blurred lines" video. ♪ good girl >> reporter: the model telling "instyle uk" when anyone comes up to me about "blurred lines," are we seriously talking about a video from three years ago? it's weird to me the reaction to a woman's naked body is so controversial in our culture. kim kardashian, who nearly broke the internet in march 2016 after tweeting this self-censored nude selfie. >> i thought she looked beautiful. i think she's a great mom. >> reporter: amber rose is a former stripper and model, now an activist raising awareness of body and sexual shaming who came to kim's defense. >> if any sexy guy posted a nude picture with a little black strip over his private areas, everybody would be like, damn, he's hot, he's sexy, look at that body, oh, he's a dad too? and it's just a double standard.

>> reporter: the double standard between men and women is striking in videos like lady gaga's "alejandro" and britney spears' "make me" which showcased scantily clad men dancing but cause nod backlash. >> do you think there is a double standard when it comes to men and their sexuality versus women? would we be talking about this if this were a man in the video? >> absolutely not. you know, i mean, how many musicians, actors, you know, occasionally politicians that are male, have we seen with their shirts off wanting us to see how much progress they've put in at the gym, or female artists like britney spears, jennifer lopez, cardi herself performing with scantily particulate male dancers? >> reporter: while she's received significant backlash, stephanie stands by her decision to post a response to cardi b.'s video. >> i think it is productive to have these conversations. i am happy to hear the other side and why they think it's empowering. but at least we're talking about it today.

>> so your message to cardi and the city girls, twerk on? no problem with it at all? >> twerk on. just be mindful that when you are talking to younger fans, when you're talking to teenage girls who look up to you, you know, encourage them to wait until they're grown enough to twerk like you twerk. i don't think that the onus should be on a group of young women in their mid 20s, enjoying bodies that they won't have in a decade, you know, fun and fame that they didn't have 10 years ago. >> our thanks to linsey. coming up next, chris christie on the turmoil in the trump white house. why he says the administration is a real-life "game of thrones." with trelegy. the only fda-approved 3-in-1 copd treatment. ♪ trelegy. the power of 1-2-3 ♪ trelegy 1-2-3 trelegy with trelegy and the power of 1-2-3, i'm breathing better.

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back now with the former governor of new jersey, chris christie, who has just become the latest person to leave president trump's inner circle and write a tell-all book about it. tonight he's weighing in on the power plays, the nepotism, and the mueller probe. here's abc's david wright. >> donald trump was not my first choice to be president of the united states, i was. i didn't win. >> reporter: the brash former governor of new jersey doesn't pull any punches. that's simply not chris christie's style. >> did donald trump steal your schtick? >> to some extent, sure. but did it in a much different, much more flamboyant way. >> build the wall! >> reporter: christie's new book out tomorrow, "let me finish: trump, the kushners, bannon, new jersey, and the power of in your face politics." >> did you send him a copy? >> i sent it to him on friday. there's a strict embargo on this

book as you know and i didn't want it to get into that white house. i figured if it got into that building, the chance of it leaking was probably pretty good. >> reporter: the federal government is barely up and running again after the longest shutdown on record. the state of the union postponed for a week because politically, at least, the nation's capital -- >> stop the shutdown! >> reporter: has been in a month-long state of dysfunction. "the art of the deal" guy can't get a deal on the border wall. >> politics is different than real estate. >> reporter: christie says there's no question the democrats won this round. >> how prepared is he for nancy pelosi? >> i think you see that he doesn't give her a nickname. he calls chuck schumer crying chuck. he has no nickname for nancy pelosi. i can't emphasize to you how important that is. >> reporter: tomorrow the big event in washington is the arraignment of one of the president's longest political advisers, roger stone, the latest casualty of the mueller probe. >> i look forward to being fully

and completely vindicated. >> there's certain things in that indictment that should be concerning for people at the top levels of the trump campaign in the summer of 2016. because they're referenced over and over again in the indictment as having directed stone to do certain things. >> and yet you write in the book that you feel like this was a team that was too disorganized to collude? >> i still don't think there's evidence of collusion with the russians. you never know. the people at the top levels of the trump campaign should at least be concerned about what else mr. mueller may know. >> how concerned should the president be? >> listen, it's never good to be, you know, an executive where there's any investigations going on. because it's distracting from your ability to do the job that you were hired to do. >> reporter: governor christie knows that firsthand. bridgegate overshadowed his second term as new jersey governor. the scandal over the partial closure of the george washington bridge, allegedly to punish a

new jersey mayor who refused to endorse the governor's re-election. did bridgegate cost you the presidency? >> yeah, i think it did. i do. because i think that what happened was i at that time was the front-runner for the republican nomination. i just won 61% of the vote for re-election in a blue state. i think i was a threat to people. >> reporter: christie's political standing was badly damaged by bridgegate, even though prosecutors were unable to come up with any proof he was behind it. >> bridgegate happened, not one shred of evidence out there that i ever had any involvement in this at all. >> reporter: at least partly because of the fallout from bridgegate, christie's presidential campaign never really got off the ground. >> i'm happy to be on the trump team and i look forward to working with him. >> reporter: instead he was one of the first major republicans to endorse trump. >> next president of the united states, donald trump. and yet m assumed he regretted it based on the look on his face at this

event. people said it looked like a hostage video. >> what were you thinking about when you were standing so uncomfortably on that podium? >> i didn't want to be there. i introduced him, get off the stage. he said to me, stay here, stay here. i wasn't thinking anything other than, i don't want to be standing up here, it's his night, not mine. >> reporter: the book recounts all the big campaign milestones including the low point of the race. >> grab them by the [ bleep ]. >> reporter: the release of the "access hollywood" tape. >> you know, he didn't remember it. but when he saw it, he turned around and looked at us, it's me. >> locker room talk? >> locker room banter is what he said it was. >> reporter: in the book christie settles some scores with other key players on the campaign. >> michael flynn. you're not a big fan. >> no, he's a criminal. and he's a train wreck. i begged the president to not give him that job. >> reporter: steve bannon. >> he's the only guy i've ever met who can look both pretentious and like an unmade bed at the same time. i think that's the best way to describe steve. >> reporter: the trump adviser who comes in for the most

sustained criticism in the book is still at the president's side, son-in-law jared kushner. is nepotism a problem for this president? >> i think it's hard to have -- it's hard to be objective about your own family, first off. you love them. it's hard to be objective about them. and if they do something really wrong, it's hard to fire them. becauseoff got to have thanksgiving with them. >> there is a narrative out there that jared kushner and ivanka trump soften some of the darker impulses and channel president trump to a good place. >> i think there are times when jared and ivanka play a constructive role with the president. and there are other times when they don't. >> reporter: christie recounts a bitter meeting in trump tower in which he says kushner took him to task for prosecuting his father, billionaire charles kushner, pleaded guilty to 18 counts of financial crimes and witness retaliation and was sentenced to two years in prison when christie was the u.s. attorney for new jersey.

>> i was overzealous, he said that i -- that this was a family dispute that should have been left to the family and the rabbis to resolve, not federal prosecutors. >> reporter: christie says trump overruled kushner that day at trump tower, but hints the son-in-law worked behind the scenes, first to keep christie off the ticket, and later to push him out altogether, firing him from leading the transition team. >> yes, steve was the executioner that was sent to do the job. he said, listen, it was jared. the phrase steve used was, he's been taking an ax to your head with the boss ever since i got here. >> reporter: christie says that was two days after that historic election upset, a victory night that included this scene captured on camera at kushner's request. >> jared came up to my son andrew and said, would you take a picture of your dad and i together at this moment? because no one will ever believe that your father and i came together to help elect a president of the united states.

>> two days later you're out. >> uh-huh. yes, sir. politics is a tough game. i have pretty broad shoulders and pretty thick skin. and -- but yeah, that was tough. >> reporter: we reached out to bannon, kushner, flynn, and the white house. no comment so far. christie says the only posts he would have wanted in the trump white house were vice president or attorney general. >> if you had gotten the attorney general job, would there be a mueller investigation? >> no, i don't think so, because i wouldn't have recused myself. >> would you have investigated? >> sure, you have to. there's clear evidence that russi russians attempted to interfere with our election 2016. that's one of the gravest threats to our democracy. you bet you have to investigate, absolutely. you follow the facts wherever they lead. >> reporter: now, like the rest of us, chris christie is watching with interest. in fact, he's an abc news contributor. do you still harbor president, ambitions? >> not really. >> you swung and you missed? >> yeah, i think you took your

best shot. i would only run if i felt i had a legitimate chance to win. i don't like gaining in this kind of stuff just as an exercise. but absent those factors lining up, i'm also pretty happy with my life as it exists now. next, lady gaga taking her vegas show from "the shallow when" with a surprise duet. sthoe ♪ we're far from the shallow now ♪ touch shows how we really feel. but does psoriasis ever get in the way? embrace the chance of 100% clear skin with taltz... the first and only treatment of its kind offering people with moderate to severe psoriasis a chance at 100% clear skin. with taltz, up to 90% of people quickly saw a significant improvement of their psoriasis plaques. don't use if you're allergic to taltz.

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finally here tonight, diving into a big surprise. lady gaga stunning fans performing "shallow" with bradley cooper at her show in las vegas. note in the shallow shallow ♪ >> channeling their characters from "a star is born," lady gaga is set to perform the academy award nominated song at the oscars next month. ♪ ♪ far from the shallow now

>> thank you for watching "nightline." you can also dive into our full episodes on hulu. thanks again for watching and good night.