Bill Clinton $13.4 Million Speaking Fees

Bill Clinton $13.4 Million Speaking Fees - Speechmaking has been very, very good for Bill Clinton. The former president had his most lucrative year yet in 2011, CNN reports, earning $13.4 million in speech fees — exceeding his previous record by some 25%. “The former president’s previous record for speech income earned in one year was in 2010, when he earned $10.7 million for 52 events,” CNN reported. “His speech earnings last year were nearly double the $7.5 million he earned in 2009.”

All total, Clinton has earned $89 million from paid speeches since leaving the White House in January 2001.

CNN pointed out that “while it is not unusual for former presidents to command millions of dollars in speaking fees after leaving office, Clinton is the only one subjected to strict disclosure requirements.”

The reason: Wife Hillary Rodham Clinton’s positions as U.S. senator and Secretary of State.

The Center for Public Integrity estimated in a report last year that former president George W. Bush had delivered almost 140 paid speeches for at least $15 million in his first two-and-a-half years after leaving the White House.

Also from CNN:

Clinton delivered 54 paid speeches in 2011, roughly the same as his 2010 workload, but the marked increase in income can be credited to six overseas events that earned him the largest single paydays of his career.

The most lucrative was a November speech in Hong Kong to Swedish-based telecom giant Ericsson — $750,000. Clinton also earned $700,000 for a March speech to a local newspaper publishing company in Lagos, Nigeria, and $550,000 for a November speech to a business forum in Shanghai, China. He earned $500,000 apiece for three events in Austria and Holland in May and in the United Arab Emirates in December.

Prior to 2011, the most Clinton had earned from a single event was $525,000 for a 2008 speech in Edmonton, Alberta. …

Almost half of the former president’s speech income last year, $6.1 million, came from 16 speeches delivered in 11 other countries, ranging from Canada to Saudi Arabia. The remainder was earned in 38 domestic speeches delivered in nine states and the District of Columbia.

In 11 years as a private citizen, Clinton has delivered 471 paid speeches and earned an average of $189,000 per event. He has visited 27 states, as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. His popularity on the international lecture circuit has taken him to 52 countries, where he has earned roughly $51 million. Last month, Hillary Clinton traveled to her 100th country as the nation’s top diplomat, which likely makes the Clintons among the most well-traveled couples in the nation.