Former US President Bill Clinton earned $9,2-million for giving some 60 speeches last year, according to financial data disclosed on Friday by his wife, US Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Hillary Clinton, who represents New York state in the US Senate, is required by law to provide detailed financial disclosures about her own and her husband’s incomes.
The former first lady collected a $2,85-million advance for her forthcoming memoirs, according to the financial disclosure statement. She is ultimately to earn some eight million for the book.
Bill Clinton is expected to receive about $10-million for his memoirs — although none of that was listed on the 2001 disclosure form.
Much of the cash earned by the Clintons last year has gone to retire millions of dollars in legal fees to defend themselves in the Whitewater investigation, the Paula Jones harassment suit and the Monica Lewinsky saga, among other travails.
For speeches that took him from Italy to Hong Kong to Chicago, Bill Clinton is reported to have received as much as $350 000 per address — a sum that is not out of line with what former presidents typically receive upon leaving office, pundits said.
Still it represents a hefty payday for Clinton, who, until he became president never earned more than $35 000 per year. – Sapa-AFP