Talking their way from 'dead broke' to wealthy
WASHINGTON - Over seven frenetic days, Bill Clinton addressed corporate executives in Switzerland and Denmark, an investors' group in Sweden, and a cluster of leaders in Austria. He wrapped up his trip in the triumphant Spanish Hall at Prague Castle, where he shared his thoughts on energy to a Czech summit.
WASHINGTON - Over seven frenetic days, Bill Clinton addressed corporate executives in Switzerland and Denmark, an investors' group in Sweden, and a cluster of leaders in Austria. He wrapped up his trip in the triumphant Spanish Hall at Prague Castle, where he shared his thoughts on energy to a Czech summit.
His pay: $1.4 million.
That lucrative week in May 2012 offers a glimpse into the way Clinton has leveraged his popularity into a fortune. Starting just two weeks after exiting the Oval Office, he has delivered hundreds of paid speeches, lifting a family that was "dead broke," as Hillary Rodham Clinton phrased it this month, to a point of such extraordinary wealth that it is now seen as a potential political liability if she runs for president in 2016.
Bill Clinton has been paid $104.9 million for 542 speeches around the world between January 2001, when he left office, and January 2013, when Hillary Clinton left as secretary of state, according to a Washington Post review of the family's financial disclosures.
Although slightly more than half of his appearances were in the United States, the majority of his speaking income, $56.3 million, came from foreign speeches.
The financial industry has been Clinton's most frequent sponsor. The Post review showed that Wall Street banks and other firms have hired Clinton for at least 102 appearances and paid him $19.6 million.
Since leaving State, Hillary Clinton has followed her husband and a roster of recent presidents and secretaries of state in this profitable line of work. Records of her earnings are not publicly available, but executives familiar with the engagements said her standard fee is $200,000 and up.
The itineraries could be a political challenge should she run for president, giving opponents an opening to attack the Clintons for being beholden to powerful interests. Some companies that have paid Bill Clinton for speeches have faced scrutiny from federal regulators.
Matt McKenna, a spokesman for Bill Clinton, and Nick Merrill, a spokesman for Hillary Clinton, declined to comment.
Clinton's income from speaking, unlike that of other former presidents, is detailed in annual public disclosures because his wife has held public office.
Both Clintons also give speeches for free. The Clintons also sometimes request that sponsors pay their fee as a donation to the family's nonprofit group that leads philanthropic initiatives.
Although many former presidents hit the speaking circuit, Bill Clinton's staying power has been unusual. "I'm shocked that people still want me to come give talks," he told David Gregory in an interview this week.
