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Much of the Clintons' income is derived from speaking engagements
Information revealed in financial disclosure form filed with FEC
Hillary and Bill Clinton have made more than $30 million since January 2014, according to a financial disclosure form provided to CNN and confirmed by a Clinton campaign aide.
Much of that money came from paid speeches that were politically taxing for Hillary Clinton as she toured the country before running for President. The Clintons have given a total of 104 paid speeches since January 2014, netting the couple $25.3 million, according to the form.
Royalties and an advanced payment for Hillary Clinton’s memoir “Hard Choices” also brought in more than $5 million, according to the form.
Clinton filed the public financial disclosure report with the Federal Election Commission on Friday, as was required for any candidate who declared their presidential bid before April 15 and did not seek an extension.
Paid speeches by both Bill and Hillary Clinton are detailed in the report. Hillary Clinton spent much of 2014 touring the country on the paid speaking circuit. Almost all of her speeches are domestic, except for a few in Canada and Mexico.
Her highest grossing speech was a $335,000 appearance at Qualcomm Inc. in San Diego in October 2014, according to the form. In total, the former secretary of state delivered 51 paid speeches.
Bill Clinton’s speeches are far more international, however. He was paid for a Bank of America speech in London, a food forum appearance in Sweden and a speech to a group of lawyers in the Netherlands.
The former President was even paid $175,000 for a speech in Miami where he appeared via satellite.
The forms also detail the Clintons’ investments. The couple have between $5 million and $25 million invested in a JP Morgan Chase cash account. They also have between $5 million and $25 million invested in a Vanguard 500 index fund. A campaign aide said the fund was tied to the Standard & Poor’s Index and that it had been opened in the last few months.
The aide said that returns from those two funds are not taxed as capital gains and that the couple paid no capital gains tax during the filing period.
The aide added that the Clintons’ estimated tax rate for 2014 was over 30%, a number that would be in tax filings that Hillary Clinton’s campaign plans to release.
The Clintons’ finances have been a political issue since Hillary Clinton left the State Department in 2013. Republicans regularly knocked her paid speeches, arguing that she was out of touch for picking up around $300,000 for her appearances.
Compounding the issue was the fact that Clinton told ABC News last year that she and her husband were “dead broke” when they left the White House, a statement that belied the massive earning power they had and the fact that they were dead broke no longer.
Earlier this month, Bill Clinton told NBC News that he would continue giving paid speeches during his wife’s presidential run because he has “got to pay our bills.” The comment was widely panned.
Republicans quickly jumped on news of the Clintons’ financial disclosure.
“The Clintons’ claim that staggering amounts of income from paid speaking fees that raise ethical questions and potential conflicts of interest is simply to ‘pay our bills’ shows how out-of-touch they’ve truly become,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus in a statement to reporters.
