leona helmsley died in 2007.nearly every headline of or where we called the ex convict the " queen of mean " when she died. using a business to pay for your personal stuff as a way to avoid taxes, that's a tried and true way to go to prison, and being famous doesn't necessarily help you avoid that. being infamous or famous. remember on seinfeld there was a character called the soup nazi? we have a rule on this show don't talk about nazis unless you're talking about actual nazis, but only if you're talking about the soup nazi. he had all of these rules about how you are supposed to order soup at his restaurant, if you don't follow the rules he screamed at you, know soup for you. the soup nazi on seinfeld was based on a real guy, a storefront -- run by a guy who really would scream at you if you didn't order fast enough, or if you didn't stand in exactly the right place. the cfo for the, soup nazi company went to prison. turns out for years, if god forgive you worked at the soup nazi place, you'd get paid through a

remember, we're old enough to remember leona helmsley, the queen of mean, in the late '80s was prosecutedse she used her company to renovate her greenwich mansion and did not declare it on her taxes. ironically, you know who the federal prosecutor was who prosecuted that case in the southern district of new york? none other than rudy giuliani back when he was normal. >> i do remember that, yes indeed. it's not just the former president saying stuff like this. his son eric trump made similar comments on fox news. listen to this. >> these are employment perks. these are, you know, a corporate car which everybody has. i guarantee people on this network that have corporate cars, in every company in the country that have corporate vehicles. this is what they're going after. this isn't a criminal matter. >> so do you think, dave, prosecutors will be able to use comments like these in their case against the trump organization? >> yes. he's representative of the trump organization. he's apparently high up in the organization so he can use it against the principal of the company. i realize he's fo

. >>> when the new york real estate tycoon leona helmsley was awaiting trial in 1989 on multiple countsalled her a, quote, disgrace to humanity. 32 years later, with his company and chief financial officer charged with similar crimes, that same tycoon now says this. >> they go after good, hard working people for not paying taxes on a company car. a company car. you didn't pay tax on the car. or a company apartment. you used an apartment because you need an apartment because you have to travel too far where your house is. you didn't pay tax. or education for your grandchildren. i don't even know, do you have to -- does anybody know the answer to that stuff? >> the former president over the weekend. and the answer to his question is twofold. a, yes. and b, of course. most law-abiding citizens actually do know what's taxable and what isn't. most wealthier ones know even better. some might even know not to say things suggesting consciousness of guilt. joining us now, cnn political commentator amanda carpenter, author of the book promotely titled "gaslighting america: why we love it when tru