WASHINGTON — Bill and Hillary Clinton have earned more than $25 million in paid speeches since early January 2014, her campaign announced late Friday.
Clinton, a Democrat running for the White House in 2016, also earned more than $5 million for her 2014 book, "Hard Choices," according to a disclosure report filed Friday night with the Federal Election Commission.
The report underscores how much wealth the Clintons continued to amass as the former secretary of State prepared to launch her second bid for the presidency.
The 20-page report, describing her income, assets and liabilities in broad ranges, shows the former secretary of state gave 51 speeches since Jan. 6, 2014 — each with a six-figure paycheck. The last occurred on March 19, just weeks before she announced her candidacy.
They ranged from a $100,000 payment on April 11, 2014, for a speech delivered via satellite to the California Medical Association to a $325,000 appearance at a Cisco gathering in Las Vegas last August.
Bill Clinton has delivered 53, six-figure speeches since early January 2014, including three this week, according to the filing.
The former president has appeared before an array of audiences, from software giant Microsoft to Centurion Jewelry By Invitation Only LLC, which runs jewelry trade shows. He earned $500,000 in March 2014 for delivering the keynote speech at an international investors conference in Amsterdam, sponsored by the Pennsylvania-based law firm, Kessler Topaz.
Clinton has faced intense criticism from Republicans for giving high-dollar speeches and for declaring that she and her husband were "dead broke" when he left the White House in early 2001.
During a recent interview with NBC News, Bill Clinton indicated that he would not retire from the speaking circuit, despite his wealth. "I gotta pay our bills," he said.
Top Republican officials quickly seized on Friday's financial report to argue Clinton is out of step with the electorate, even as she sounds populist themes in her campaign.
"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," Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, said in a statement.
