They may have left the White House “dead broke,” as Hillary Clinton claims, but she and Bill Clinton cashed in so fast and big that they sit atop the list of former first couples who struck gold after the presidency.
Since leaving office, they have earned at least $155 million from speeches, salaries and book deals, easily outpacing the post-White House incomes of other former presidential families and distancing themselves from the time when Bill Clinton deducted $2 apiece for used underwear donated to an Arkansas charity.
What’s more, through the kindness of friends and the successful and richly-funded Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation, they’ve received travel and other benefits. The Foundation itself has assets of $257 million and has spent $50 million on travel expenses.
Overall, their net worth is about $80 million, dwarfing their nearest challenger for the wealth title, former President George W. Bush, at $35 million, according to the popular website Celebrity Net Worth.
Many recent ex-presidents have set up foundations, written books, given speeches and generally faded away wealthy — but not fabulously so. And while other former presidents, notably Jimmy Carter and Richard Nixon, earned rare million-dollar paydays from books and speeches, the Clintons have made an industry of it.
Their books — including the anticipated $8 million from Hillary’s new memoir Hard Choices — account for about $40 million. Bill Clinton earned $106 million in speeches through 2013. Hillary has earned an estimated additional $5 million in speeches since leaving the State Department.
Bill Clinton has also collected $2.6 million in a presidential pension, and Hillary Clinton $2 million in State Department and Senate salary.
TALK RADIO BEAT CANTOR; ON TO MISSISSIPPI
Conservative talk radio’s Laura Ingraham and Mark Levin are getting a good chunk of the credit for helping defeat House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who championed the type of immigration reform, dubbed “amnesty,” that the right wing strongly opposes.
The on-air and in-person support of Ingraham and Levin for Cantor challenger Dave Brat is seen in conservative corners as the key to the college professor’s victory in last week’s Virginia GOP primary.
And now they are planning to turn their megawatts on Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran and promote state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who, with their backing, eked out more votes than Cochran in an earlier primary, setting up a June 24 runoff.
“On it,” Levin told Secrets.
ED GILLESPIE TARGETS HARRY REID IN RACE
In his first week as the official Republican nominee to challenge Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, former Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie raised the stakes in the election to claim that his victory would be the one that puts the GOP in control of the Senate.
“When we win here, it will have an impact, not only for our commonwealth, but for our country,” he told a group of supporters in Opequon, Va., 85 miles west of Capitol Hill. “Because not only will Mark Warner be a former senator from Virginia, but Harry Reid will become the former Senate majority leader,” he added.
Many pundits agree that a Gillespie victory would be a sign of a resurgent Republican Party, and the end of Democratic control of the Senate.
“If Gillespie wins the Virginia Senate race, he’ll be part of a GOP majority, barring an unforeseen fluke,” said Kyle Kondik with the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics.
NATIONAL PARKS TO PROMOTE GAY HISTORY
America’s national parks are about to add a new layer of storytelling to their mission: highlighting the achievements of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders.
Building on President Obama’s diversity demands, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell has begun the process of identifying potential gay history sites and LGBT events for the National Park Service to promote.
The effort could lead to the naming of new LGBT historical places, the installation of history-noting plaques and even park rangers telling the life stories of ground-breaking gays to visiting tourists
“The contributions of women, minorities and members of the LGBT community have been historically underrepresented in the National Park Service, and the LGBT theme study will help ensure that we understand, commemorate and share these key chapters in our nation’s complex and diverse history,” Jewell said in announcing the effort.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected].
