Clintons Receive More Than $25 Million From Speeches in Past 16 Months By Peter Nicholas And Rebecca Ballhaus
http://www.wsj.com/articles/clintons-received-more-than-25-million-from-speeches-since-january-2014-1431730968
Campaign official says Hillary Clinton received more than $5 million from book ‘Hard Choices’
WASHINGTON—Hillary and Bill Clinton earned more than $30 million in the past 16 months, with $25 million coming from the delivery of 104 paid speeches and more than $5 million coming from Mrs. Clinton’s book, “Hard Choices.”
Mrs. Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, released the figures on the same day her campaign filed a personal financial disclosure statement going back to the beginning of 2014, which is required by the Federal Election Commission.
Mrs. Clinton’s financial disclosure reported assets ranging from $11.3 million to $52.7 million. She reported no liabilities. In her last financial disclosure before leaving the State Department, which covered 2012, Mrs. Clinton reported assets totaling between $5.2 million and $25.5 million. Government officials are generally required to report financial information in ranges, rather than specifics.
The Clintons’ disclosed income since the beginning of 2014 places them among the highest earners in the top 1% of the population. That is likely to serve as a reminder of the couple’s wealth, at a time when she is positioning herself as a champion of struggling middle-class families.
The Clinton campaign didn’t comment beyond the financial disclosure.
Earlier in May, Mr. Clinton, the 42nd president, said he would continue to give paid speeches. “I gotta pay our bills,” he told NBC News. “I work hard at this. I spend hours a day just doing the research. People like to hear me speak.”
This week, he gave three paid speeches, including two for $250,000 each on Tuesday. Mrs. Clinton, as a presidential candidate, is no longer delivering paid speeches, but her last one was on March 19—just weeks before she announced her campaign—for a fee of $250,000. She delivered six speeches in the first three months of 2015.
The Clintons paid an effective federal income-tax rate in 2014 of more than 30%, a campaign official said. They also since early 2014 opened up a Vanguard mutual fund linked to the S&P 500 stock index, the couple’s only investment during this period, the official said.
ENLARGE Mr. Clinton said in the NBC interview that he gives 10% of his speech revenue “off the top every year” to the family’s charitable foundation and that Mrs. Clinton in the time she was at the foundation gave 17% of her proceeds.
Mrs. Clinton left the foundation after she announced her candidacy in April.
Mr. and Mrs. Clinton delivered nearly an equal number of speeches from the beginning of 2014 through the present: Mrs. Clinton delivered 51, and Mr. Clinton delivered 53. In the 11 years during which Mrs. Clinton filed financial disclosures as a U.S. senator and as secretary of state, she reported that her husband made $105 million in speaking fees. All told, since leaving the White House, the Clintons have earned at least $130 million in speaking fees.
On average, Mrs. Clinton collected lower speaking fees than her husband. But she often commanded a hefty price, earning $335,000 from mobile technology company Qualcomm for a speech in San Diego in October, and $325,000 from the technology company Cisco for a speech in Las Vegas last August.
Mrs. Clinton, who drew a salary as senator from 2001 through early 2009 and then as secretary of state through early 2013, has been a regular on the speaking circuit since leaving office.
The Clintons’ financial standing was far weaker in 2001 after they left the White House, a time when Mrs. Clinton has described her family as being “dead broke.” They owed hefty legal fees, paying more than $1.3 million in 2001 alone to cover legal bills for themselves and former staff members, according to previous disclosures.
But in 2001, the couple took in at least $12.3 million, according to disclosures, with $9.2 million of that from paid speeches Mr. Clinton gave. They earned an additional $2.8 million from book royalties in 2001.
In her last disclosure before leaving the State Department in early 2013, Mrs. Clinton reported that she and her husband had made at least $16.7 million in 2012.
The filings disclose income and assets in ranges and don’t necessarily include all of Mr. Clinton’s income.
Sean Spicer, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee, said the disclosures explain what he said are signs that Mrs. Clinton “is so out of touch. She went from ‘dead broke’ to giving $250,000-a-pop, 30-minute speeches.”
Over the years, the Clintons bought homes in Chappaqua, N.Y., for $1.7 million, and in Washington, D.C., for $2.85 million, disclosures show. In 2008, Mrs. Clinton lent her presidential campaign $5 million to better compete with then-Sen. Barack Obama.
—Laura Meckler contributed to this article.
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