Clintons made $25 million in speeches since 2014

Hillary Clinton and former President Bill Clinton earned more than $25 million delivering 104 speeches since the beginning of last year, according to a mandatory financial disclosure filed Friday.

The former secretary of state — now a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination — also brought in more than $5 million for her book “Hard Choices,” according to the report covering January 2014 through mid-April 2015.


The long-awaited disclosure omits an unknown number of speeches that the Clintons delivered while directing the payment or honoraria to the Clinton Foundation, a POLITICO analysis of the document found, despite instructions on the and guidance from the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, saying that honoraria directed to a charity should be reported.

The multimillion-dollar figures could also fuel what has already emerged as a campaign theme and a criticism from Republicans: her challenges connecting with average Americans in an election in which income inequality is likely to gain focus.

However, the Clintons did pay an effective tax rate of more than 30 percent on their 2014 income, a campaign aide told POLITICO, although that information is not disclosed on the financial disclosure form, which was filed with the Federal Election Commission.

The relatively high tax rate for a couple with the Clintons’ income is due to it being derived almost entirely from speeches and book royalties, which are taxed as ordinary income.

Hillary Clinton gave 51 paid speeches for a total of nearly $12 million since January 2014, and Bill Clinton gave 53 speeches for $13.5 million, according to the disclosure.

Hillary Clinton’s most lucrative speaking gigs were addresses delivered in San Diego to the Biotechnology Industry Organization and Qualcomm for $335,000 apiece.

Bill Clinton’s priciest speeches were delivered abroad to Bank of America in London, law firm Kessler, Topaz, Meltzer & Check in Amsterdam, and to EAT: the Stockholm Food Forum. Each brought him $500,000.

The disclosure, listing only ranges of value and income for investments, puts the Clintons’ total assets at $11 million to $53 million.

The vast majority of the Clintons’ reported investments were contained in two accounts: cash in a JPMorgan brokerage account and money invested in a Vanguard 500 Index Fund. Both accounts were valued at $5 million to $25 million, the report said.

None of the couple’s assets generated more than $50,000 in income in 2014, according to the disclosure. In fact, the couple’s relatively conservative investments last year paid out no capital gains, which would have been taxed at a far lower rate, the aide said.

That fact may have triggered Bill Clinton’s statement in an NBC interview last week that he “had taken almost no capital gains” in the past 15 years. (The former president defended his speaking fees by saying in the same interview, “I gotta pay our bills.”)

Tax returns released in connection with Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign in 2007 show that statement to be open to question since the couple took in about $371,000 in gains between 2000 and 2006. However, Bill Clinton may have been referring to his most recent tax return, covering the 2014 tax year.

By comparison, 2012 Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney paid an effective tax rate of 14 percent in 2011. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama paid about 20 percent on their income last year, according to a tax return made public last month.

Under federal law, presidential candidates are required to file a financial disclosure listing assets and income with the FEC within 30 days of becoming a candidate.

A Clinton campaign spokesman did not respond immediately to a request for comment on the report’s omissions of speeches delivered for payments to the Clinton Foundation. However, in response to a POLITICO report last week about a 2010 speech Bill Clinton gave to Thai government entities but which did not appear in his wife’s financial disclosure, a spokesman for the former president suggested such reporting is not required when an individual speaks on behalf of a charity, such as the Clinton Foundation.

A State Department official confirmed Friday that donated honoraria from speeches must ordinarily be disclosed, but suggested that in some circumstances, such a disclosure might not be required.

“The general rule is that an employee is required to report honoraria aggregating more than $200 from one source received by the employee or spouse, including if the honoraria received was donated to a charity,” said the official, citing guidance from the Office of Government Ethics.

“There may be factual situations that fall outside of this specific rule,” added the official, who requested anonymity.

The money paid to the foundation for the Thai speech also does not appear in the foundation’s voluntary disclosure of donors. Foundation officials have said that is because it was recorded not as an outright donation but as revenue received for a service, namely a speech by one of the Clintons.

Presidential candidates are not required to release their tax returns, but most major hopefuls do so voluntarily. The Clinton campaign has not yet said whether the Clintons will do so.

Hillary Clinton’s speeches:

Speech Date Location Fee GE 1/6/2014 Boca Raton, Fl. $225,500 National Automobile Dealers Association 1/27/2014 New Orleans, La. $325,500 Premier Health Alliance 1/27/2014 Miami, Fl. $225,500 Salesforce.com 2/6/2014 Las Vegas, Nv. $225,500 Novo Nordisk A/S 2/17/2014 Mexico City, Mexico 125,000 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society 2/26/2014 Orlando, Fl. $225,500 A&E Television Networks 2/27/2014 New York, N.Y. 280,000 Association of Corporate Counsel - Southern California 3/4/2014 Los Angeles, Ca. $225,500 The Vancouver Board of Trade 3/5/2014 Vancouver, Canada $275,500 tinePublic Inc. 3/6/2014 Calgary, Canada $225,500 Pharmaceutical Care Management Association 3/13/2014 Orlando, Fl. $225,500 Drug Chemical and Associated Technologies 3/13/2014 New York, N.Y. $250,000 Xerox Corporation 3/18/2014 New York, N.Y. $225,000 Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal 3/18/2014 Montreal, Canada $275,000 Academic Partnerships 3/24/2014 Dallas, Tx. $225,500 Marketo Inc. 4/8/2014 San Francisco, Ca. $225,500 World Affairs Council 4/8/2014 Portland, Or. $250,500 Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc. 4/10/2014 Las Vegas, Nv. $225,500 Let’s Talk Entertainment 4/10/2014 San Jose, Ca. $265,000 California Medical Association (via satellite) 4/11/2014 San Diego, Ca. $100,000 National Council for Behavioral Healthcare 5/6/2014 Washington D.C. $225,500 International Deli-Dairy-Bakery Association 6/2/2014 Denver, Co. $225,500 Let’s Talk Entertainment 6/2/2014 Denver, Co. $265,000 United Fresh Produce Association 6/10/2014 Chicago, Il. $225,000 tinePublic Inc. 6/16/2014 Toronto, Canada $150,000 tinePublic Inc. 6/18/2014 Edmonton, Canada $100,000 Innovation Arts and Entertainment 6/20/2014 Austin, Tx. $150,000 Biotechnology Industry Organization 6/25/2014 San Diego, Ca. $335,000 Innovation Arts and Entertainment 6/25/2014 San Francisco, Ca. $150,000 GTCR 6/26/2014 Chicago, Il. $280,000 Knewton, Inc. 7/22/2014 San Francisco, Ca. $225,500 Ameriprise 7/26/2014 Boston, Ma. $225,500 Corning, Inc. 7/29/2014 Corning, N.Y. $225,500 Nexenta Systems, Inc. 8/28/2014 San Francisco, Ca. $300,000 Cisco 8/28/2014 Las Vegas, Nv. $325,000 Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP 9/4/2014 San Diego, Ca. $225,500 Caridovascular Research Foundation 9/15/2014 Washington D.C. $275,000 Commercial Real Estate Women Network 10/2/2014 Miami Beach, Fl. $225,500 Canada 2020 10/6/2014 Ottawa, Canada $215,500 Deutsche Bank AG 10/7/2014 New York, N.Y. $280,000 Advanced Medical Technology Association (AdvaMed) 10/8/2014 Chicago, Il. $265,000 Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers 10/13/2014 Colorado Springs, Co. $225,500 Salesforce.com 10/14/2014 San Francisco, Ca. $225,500 Qualcomm Incorporated 10/14/2014 San Diego, Ca. $335,000 Massachusetts Conference for Women 12/4/2014 Boston, Ma. $205,500 tinePublic Inc. 1/21/2015 Winnipeg, Canada $262,000 tinePublic Inc. 1/21/2015 Saskatoon, Canada $262,500 Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce 1/22/2015 Whistler, Canada $150,000 2/24/2015 Santa Clara, Ca. $225,500 eBay Inc. 3/11/2015 San Jose, Ca. $315,000 American Camping Association 3/19/2015 Atlantic City, N.J. $260,000 TOTAL $11,987,000

Bill Clinton’s speeches:

Speech Date Location Fee Patient Safety Movement Foundation 1/12/2014 Laguna Niguel, Ca. $315,000.00 National Multi Housing Council 1/23/2014 Boca Raton, Fl. $285,000 Thomas Lloyd Global Asset Management 1/24/2014 Frankfurt, Germany $200,000 The Fragrance Foundation 1/29/2014 New York, N.Y. $250,000 2/4/2014 Las Vegas, Nv. $290,000 Centurion Jewelry By Invitation Only, LLC 2/4/2014 Scottsdale, Az. $225,000 Young’s Presidents Organization 2/27/2014 Los Angeles, Ca. $100,000 Bright Futures International 2/27/2014 Beverly Hills, Ca. $225,000 Microsoft Corporation 3/3/2014 Las Vegas, Nv. $225,000 Bank of America 3/6/2014 London, United Kingdom $500,000 Kessler Topaz Meltzer & Check LLP 3/7/2014 The Netherlands $500,000 Telefonica (via satellite) 4/1/2014 Miami, Fl. $175,000 CSP LLC 4/1/2014 Scottsdale, Az. $225,000 Oracle Americas, Inc. 4/2/2014 Rancho Mirage, Ca. $300,000 Experian 5/5/2014 Dallas, Tx. $225,000 Jefferies LLC 5/6/2014 Miami, Fl. $225,000 Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies 5/12/2014 Toronto, Canada $275,000 Target Markets Program Administrators 5/13/2014 Baltimore, Md. $275,000 UBS Wealth Management Americas 5/19/2014 Washington D.C. $225,000 SCIP Capital Management, LLC 5/20/2014 New York, N.Y. $250,000 EAT The Stockholm Food Forum AB 5/26/2014 Stockholm, Sweeden $500,000 Entergy Corporation 6/5/2014 New York, N.Y. $250,000 Insurance Accounting and Systems Association 6/10/2014 Indianapolis, In. $225,000 Castlight Health 6/10/2014 New York, N.Y. $250,000 Hogan Lovelis US LLP 6/20/2014 Toronto, Canada $225,000 Skechers USA, Inc. 6/26/2014 Redondo Beach, Ca. $350,000 Deutsche Bank AG 8/27/2014 Boston, Ma. $270,000 Young’s Presidents Organization 9/9/2014 New York, N.Y. $150,000 Association of Energy Engineers 10/1/2014 Washington D.C. $275,000 Affiliated Managers Group, Inc. 10/9/2014 Napa Valley, Ca. $225,000 Veritas Capital Fund Management LLC 10/14/2014 New York, N.Y. $250,000 UBS Wealth Management Americas 10/14/2014 Boston, Ma. $225,000 Citadel LLC 10/15/2014 New York, N.Y. $250,000 SAP America 10/23/2014 New York, N.Y. $250,000 Press Ganey Associates, Inc. 11/3/2014 Orlando, Fl. $225,000 World Affairs Council - Los Angeles 11/10/2014 Los Angeles, Ca. $150,000 Centerview Partners LLC 11/13/2014 Carefree, Az. $225,000 AT&T Services, Inc. 11/20/2014 Tuscon, Az. $225,000 Williams Morris Endeavor 1/9/2015 Carlsbad, Ca. $225,000 MPSF, Inc. 2/2/2015 Marin, Ca. $181,250 MPSF, Inc. 2/3/2015 Oakland, Ca. $181,250 MPSF, Inc. 2/4/2015 San Mateo, Ca. $181,250 MPSF, Inc. 2/5/2015 Marin, Ca. $181,250 UBS Wealth Management Americas 2/19/2015 Nashville, Tn. $225,000 National Association of Manufacturers 3/2/2015 Scottsdale, Az. $325,000 HR.com Limited 3/31/2015 Irving, Tx. $275,000 Texas China Business Council, LLC 3/31/2015 Austin, Tx. $265,000 Wyndham Hotel Group 4/1/2015 Las Vegas, Nv. $225,000 ISN Software Inc. 4/9/2015 Grapevine, Tx. $275,000 Oracle Corporation 4/16/2015 Rancho Mirage, Ca. $360,000 Univision Management Company 5/12/2015 New York, N.Y. $250,000 Apollo Management Holdings, LP 5/12/2015 New York, N.Y. $250,000 American Institute of Architects 5/14/2015 Atlanta, Ga. $250,000 TOTAL $13,460,000.00

Louis Nelson contributed to this report.