I’m not ‘truly well off’ compared to wealthiest Americans, says Hillary Clinton... despite $6million houses and fortune estimated at $100million
-Hillary Clinton has been criticized for charging $200,000 speaking fees and saying she was broke in 2001, despite making $12 million that year
-On Saturday, Clinton said her wealth won't be an issue with voters should she run for president again in 2016
-They don't see me as part of the problem because we pay ordinary income tax, unlike a lot of people who are truly well off - not to name names,' Clinton said
-The couple owns stately homes in Washington, D.C. and upstate New York as well as an apartment in New York City
'They don't see me as part of the problem because we pay ordinary income tax, unlike a lot of people who are truly well off - not to name names,' Clinton said.
'And we've done it through dint of hard work.'
America Rising PAC Executive Director Tim Miller mocked Clinton's statement in an email to reporters over the weekend.
'If Hillary is going to run for President she might be advised to take a lengthy sabbatical from her $200k per pop speaking tour and private shopping sprees at Bergdorfs to try and reconnect with what’s happening back here on Earth,' the GOP operative said.
The Clintons have made an estimated $155 million since leaving the White House in 2001, according to financial disclosure statements, which makes them the wealthiest former first family in America.
Clinton told Diane Sawyer earlier this month that she and her husband charged such steep speaking fees because they were in debt after leaving the White House.
'We came out of the White House not only dead broke, but in debt,' Clinton said. 'We had no money when we got there, and we struggled to, you know, piece together the resources for mortgages, for houses, for Chelsea's education.'
'You know, it was not easy.'
Hillary was swiftly attacked as 'out of touch' after the comment, and the morning after the interview aired she clarified that she and her husband had racked up 'something like $12 million' in legal fees by the end of Bill's presidency.
'Bill and I were obviously blessed. We worked hard for everything we got in our lives and we have continued to work hard. And we've been blessed in the last 14 years,' Clinton told Good Morning America host Robin Roberts.
The financial 'struggles' the Clintons faced at the end of Bill's second term more than a decade ago are but a distant memory, however.
In the first year Bill was out of office, the Clinton's made $12.3 million.
In 2004 Bill locked down an unheard of $15 million advance for his autobiography My Life, and, as of last year, he had made $106 million off of speeches.
His net worth as of last February was $55 million, and he has continued to make money off of speeches since.
Hillary Clinton has made roughly $5 million in speeches since leaving the State Department last year, and she had made more than $16 million in advances for her two memoirs, In Living History, 2003, and Hard Choices, 2014.
She also earned approximately $2 million during her second career, first as United States Senator and later Secretary of State.
Bill has also accrued $2.6 million of his White House pension.
Together, the couple has a net worth of $100 million or more.
All former presidents receive an annual pension based on how much they were paid while in office.
No other modern president has made quite the killing that Bill has off of speeches and books, however.
Jimmy Carter, who also left the White House broke, has made millions off of the 14 books he has written. But as of 2012 his net worth was only $7 million, according to 24/7 Wall Street, and he has done nothing since that would have increased it dramatically enough to rival the value of Bill Cllinton's assets.
Likewise, George W. Bush's estimated net worth is less than half of Bill Clinton's. In 2012 he was valued at $20 million after having made $7 million off his 2010 book Decision Points and $15 million in speeches.
His father, former president George H.W. Bush has a net worth of $23 million, but much of that comes from the value of his home and a 100+ acre estate he owns in Maine. In his hey day, H.W. Bush would charge anywhere from $60,000 - $80,000.
In 1993 H.W. charged a record-breaking $100,00 for a speech.
Bill Clinton has since topped that with a $750,000 speech.
President Barack Obama has the lowest net worth of all the living presidents, coming in at $5 million. Most of that money can be attributed to the royalties he received on the two books he wrote before becoming president, the 1995 hit Dreams from May Father and his 2006 book The Audacity of Hope.
In terms of the richest presidents ever, Bill Clinton ranks in the top 10.
The wealthiest American president in history, according to 24/7 Wall Street, was John F. Kennedy, who left behind $1 billion in shared assets with other members of the Kennedy family. His wife, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, was also very wealthy, and upon her death in 1996, her estate was valued at $43.7 million.
