The Slatest

Clintons Earned at Least $30 Million in 16 Months

Former first lady and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton speaks with former president Bill Clinton as they attend the opening ceremony of the George W. Bush Presidential Center on April 25, 2013, in Dallas, Texas.  

Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images

Call them part of the 0.1 percent. Hillary and Bill Clinton have earned at least $30 million since January 2014, mostly for giving paid speeches, according to financial disclosure forms filed on Friday. Around $25 million of the total came from giving around 100 speeches while Hillary Clinton earned around $5 million in royalties for her book, Hard Choices. “The Clintons’ income puts them at the upper end of the top 0.1 percent of earners in the U.S. population, according to government data,” notes Reuters.

The financial disclosure report makes it clear that even though Hillary Clinton may be the one who is running for president, the former president still gets more money for speaking, around $250,000 compared to $235,000, reports the New York Times. Bill Clinton has earned as much as $500,000 for one speech, while Hillary Clinton’s top-earning speech earned her $350,000.

The financial disclosure form confirms what was already clear: Clinton is among the wealthiest of the 2016 presidential candidates. That fact could complicate Clinton’s efforts to portray herself as a champion of the struggling middle class. Yet it does illustrate how far the couple has come since 2001, when they left the White House and Hillary Clinton described the family as being “dead broke,” notes the Wall Street Journal. Since leaving the White House, the Clintons have earned at least $130 million in speaking fees.