$21 Mill in Speaking Fees: "Hillary's Pay-to-Play Fees Disqualify Her As a Presidential Candidate"

[amborin]

Hillary Clinton’s Pay-to-Play Speaking Fees Disqualify Her as a Presidential Candidate

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/02/22/hillary-clintons-pay-play-speaking-fees-disqualify-her-presidential-candidate

According to a recent report by CNN, Hillary Clinton was paid more than $21 million for making speeches to private concerns from April 2013 to March 2015, and thus a mere one month prior to her formal announcement as a candidate for president in April 2015.

Of the $21 million, she was paid $1.8 million by Goldman Sachs, UBS, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, and Deutsche Bank.

Her husband, Bill Clinton, according to CNN, was paid at least $5.9 million for at least 39 speeches to big banks, including Goldman Sachs and UBS.

This adds up to Clinton-household income of at least $7.7 million from “big banks” prior to Hillary Clinton’s 2015 announcement as a candidate for president.

Furthermore, according to an online list of all Hillary Clinton speeches from 2013 to 2015, she was also paid $225,000 and upwards per speech by Fidelity Investments, Verizon Communications, Sanford C. Bernstein, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, CME Group, Boston Consulting Group, SAP Global Marketing, Accenture, General Electric, Xerox Corporation, Cisco, Qualcomm, Drug Chemical and Associated Technologies, California Medical Association, Healthcare Information and Management Association, Biotechnology Industry Organization, Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, National Association of Chain Drug Stores, and many others.

It is difficult to imagine no breach of ethics when a high-profile, presumptive candidate for president is paid more than $21 million in less than two years for almost no work from corporate, healthcare, investment banks and other concerns, only to announce one month after the speaking tour has ended that she is indeed running for president.

It is very likely, given the tight chronology, that she was planning to run for president while taking the money for the speeches, contrary to her denial on that count to Anderson Cooper during a recent town hall event.

Clinton has claimed no conflicts of interest in accepting speaking fees, for example, from Wall Street investment banks. However, on February 8, CNN reported that “Hillary Clinton won’t rule out appointing a Wall Street veteran to the top economic post in the White House.” CNN also noted that “when Clinton was pressed [on NBC’s Meet the Press] on whether she would appoint someone from Wall Street to be her Treasury Secretary, she refused to say no.”

Doesn’t this at least look like a pay-to-play arrangement orchestrated by a leading candidate for the presidency? With more of the same likely to follow if she’s elected?

Hillary Clinton took the money from all of the above. No law against it, currently. But she shouldn’t now be a candidate for president as a result.

_____

Here is the Bill and Hillary Clinton Speaking Fees Chart as Published in Full by CNN on February 5.

Total Bill and Hillary Clinton Speech Income:
February 2001 thru May 2015
Total: $153,669,691
Average: $210,795
Speeches: 729

Total Bill Clinton Speech Income, February 2001 thru May 2015:
Total: $132,021,691
Average: $207,255
Speeches: 637

Total Hillary Clinton Speech Income, April 2013 thru March 2015:
Total: $21,648,000
Average: $235,304
Speeches: 92

Bill and Hillary Speech Income from “Big Banks”: At Least $7.7 Million for at Least 39 Speeches

Hillary Speech Income from “Big Banks”: At Least $1.8 Million for at Least 8 Speeches

[WJC = William Jefferson Clinton; HRC = Hillary Rodham Clinton]

Bill and Hillary Paid Speeches to Goldman Sachs
Total: $2,225,000 (12 Speeches Total: 9 Bill, 3 Hillary)
12/3/2004 $125,000 WJC New York, New York
4/20/2005 $125,000 WJC Kiawah Island, South Carolina
6/6/2005 $250,000 WJC Paris, France
6/13/2005 $150,000 WJC Greensboro, Georgia
3/1/2007 $150,000 WJC Miami, Florida
3/8/2007 $150,000 WJC Phoenix, Arizona
4/11/2011 $200,000 WJC New York, New York
10/23/2012 $200,000 WJC Newport Beach, California
6/6/2013 $200,000 WJC New York, New York
6/4/2013 $225,000 HRC Palmetto Bluffs, South Carolina
10/24/2013 $225,000 HRC New York, New York
10/29/2013 $225,000 HRC Tucson, Arizona

Bill and Hillary Paid Speeches to UBS
Total $1,915,000 (10 Speeches: 9 Bill, 1 Hillary)

8/1/2011 $165,000 WJC Dallas, Texas
10/17/2011 $150,000 WJC Los Angeles, California
2/21/2012 $175,000 WJC Miami, Florida
4/17/2012 $175,000 WJC Chicago, Illinois
10/18/2012 $175,000 WJC Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
5/9/2013 $175,000 WJC San Francisco, California
5/19/2014 $225,000 WJC Washington, D.C,
10/14/2014 $225,000 WJC Boston, Massachusetts
2/9/2015 $225,000 WJC Nashville, Tennessee
7/11/2013 $225,000 HRC New York, New York

Bill and Hillary Paid Speeches to Morgan Stanley
Total $350,000 (2 Speeches: 1 Bill; 1 Hillary)

2/5/2001 $125,000 WJC New York, New York
4/18/2013 $225,000 HRC Washington, D.C.

Bill and Hillary Paid Speeches to Bank of America/Merrill Lynch
Total $1,300,000 (5 Speeches: 4 Bill, 1 Hillary)

11/30/2007 $175,000 WJC New York, New York
12/1/2011 $200,000 WJC Orlando, Florida
11/13/2012 $200,000 WJC Palm Beach, Florida
3/6/2014 $500,000 WJC London, England
11/13/2013 $225,000 HRC Bluffton, South Carolina

Bill and Hillary Paid Speeches to Deutsche Bank
Total $1,255,000 (6 Speeches: 4 Bill, 2 Hillary)

5/4/2005 $150,000 WJC Baltimore, Maryland
8/11/2005 $150,000 WJC New York, New York
10/10/2012 $200,000 WJC Scottsdale, Arizona
8/27/2014 $270,000 WJC Boston, Maryland
4/24/2013 225,000 HRC Washington, D.C.
10/7/2014 $260,000 HRC New York, New York

Bill Paid Speeches to Citigroup
Total $700,000 – (4 Speeches: all Bill, No Hillary)

3/12/2004 $250,000 WJC Paris, France
9/13/2006 $150,000 WJC New York, New York
11/15/2006 $150,000 WJC New York, New York
5/3/2007 $150,000 WJC New York, New York

[SoLeftIAmRight]

1. kissinger and $hillary had long talks about this one

...

[AgerolanAmerican]

2. I don't get

how even loyal HRC supporters can't see how over-the-top outrageous this practice is

it's like she could tattoo "CORRUPT" on her forehead and they still wouldn't notice

[floriduck]

4. They simply do not care.

They are as bound to Hillary as DWS and the DNC. They'll all go down with the USS Transcript.

[artislife]

8. ^^^This.

[840high]

17. .+1

[KoKo]

30. Yes...the track record is there...n/t

[anotherproletariat]

5. Or, we think that she was a private citizen when giving speeches, and most of the income

went to the Clinton Foundation. And...we know that most people would do the same if offered that kind of money to talk about your life or an interesting job you had. The speaking industry is very large and lucrative. Hollywood celebrities make much more to give talks...every type of industry convention has a keynote speaker, all of whom are paid. If you are an interesting public figure, someone will offer you money to speak. Heck, my high school paid Malcolm Jamal Warner to speak at our graduation.

If I had a cause which was near and dear to my heart, I would accept speaking gigs - if offered - to further my cause. The people who are complaining are not being honest.

[AgerolanAmerican]

7. So tell me

Why do you think that these megacorps and TBTF banks were so eager to line her pockets? To hear about her awesome life?

[anotherproletariat]

11. She is a public figure...why do they pay Ben Bernanke even more?

How about all of these people? http://www.businessinsider.com/celebrity-public-appearance-fees-2012-11?op=1

Public speaking is a big business...like I said, every single industry has annual and semi-annual conference (or more often) and at every one they hire a speaker to bring in the attendees. That's how it's done. Just because you are not interested in her life doesn't mean that everyone feels that way.

[AgerolanAmerican]

16. Ben Bernanke?

That's your example?

The guy who put untold trillions in the hands of big banks at the public's expense?

That Ben Bernanke?

Why, I can't figure out why those banks would pay him big bucks at all.

They must think he's just that cool or something.


Man, these people could tell you point blank to your face that these are payoffs and you'd probably still defend them. Nobody can be that stupid. And nobody is stupid enough to buy that story either.

[anotherproletariat]

22. He's retired...he can't do anything for them. nt

[AgerolanAmerican]

24. You have convinced me

that you're on the payroll of the Clinton campaign

seen a lot of disingenuous stuff around here but you really take the cake

[azmom]

25. Hush money for the biggest theft in america's

history.

[anotherproletariat]

23. Why does Salesforce pay millions of dollars for a fireworks display over the SF Bay every year for

their employees...not to mention big name concerts? There really is a whole world out there that you apparently know nothing about. If I saw that Hillary, or any other politician was swayed by such financial support, I would certainly change my mind. Kind of like Sanders getting support from the gun industry, then supporting them on all those votes.

[KoKo]

31. Ha! there's nothing else to say...Except THIS:

You may not be aware but there are many people here on DU who are not easily influenced by Propaganda. Business People, Tech People, People who've worked in Corporate World who've lived through the NeoLib Experiment watching the crashes and offshoring of their jobs along with millions of other Informed/Educated People who work in the lowest paying Service Industry,also because of the Downsizing and Elimination of good paying Skilled American Jobs shipped to other countries where they can hire "workers on the cheap" who live, and will live, in perpetual poverty.

All of these people have awakened and read and inform themselves. They have Children, future Grand Children that they are worried about having any viable future to support themselves and experience a life that allows them Health Care, Education and the Promise for a Future Security in old age through saving the profits of their years of hard work in Social Security Savings...that was the Promise of America!

The "American Promise" is at stake. It does NOT belong to Oligarchs.

[artislife]

9. You mean her money laundering front?

I look forward to the day when there is a real indepth look at that "foundation".

[anotherproletariat]

12. There's been many...do some research. nt

[amborin]

19. people have done research: the Clinton Foundation is a giant slush fund

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511233321

[840high]

18. And we called Palin a grifter?

[CountAllVotes]

3. Enough is never enough for some

and these people aren't excluded.

This is piggish IMO, plain piggish!!!!



& recommend.

[msongs]

6. bernie got F-35s in exchange for his votes, she gave a speech and was paid $$. nt

[Octafish]

10. Talk about your window of opportunity.

The UBS speeches are troubling.

After his exit from the US Senate, Phil Gramm immediately found a job at Swiss bank UBS as its Vice Chairman. Gramm today works in the Wealth Management department, where he brought on, among others, former President Bill Clinton.

Small world. Who would have thought President Clinton and Sen. Gramm -- the two key figures in repealing Glass-Steagall -- would work together in Wealth Management at a Swiss bank?

It's a Buy-Partisan Who's Who:

President William J. Clinton
President George W. Bush Heh heh heh.
Robert J. McCann
James Carville
John V. Miller
Paula D. Polito
Anthony Roth
Mike Ryan
John Savercool

SOURCE: http://financialservicesinc.ubs.com/revitalizingamerica/SenatorPhilGramm.html

Since the New Deal, Glass-Steagall had protected the US taxpayer from the Wall Street casino by law. After its repeal, the US taxpayer got put on the hook for, among other things, the most recent $16 trillion Wall Street bailout.

In September 2008 on DU2 I described the situation: Know your BFEE: Phil Gramm, the Meyer Lansky of the War Party, Set-Up the Biggest Bank Heist Ever.

If you don't like the way I write about it, you may enjoy what Robert Scheer thinks about Phil Gramm.



https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-panama-papers-global-overview.html

Until the Panama Papers, this information wasn't much interest to the USA's "news media." They don't like to disturb their owners and operators any more than they have to.



Limited Time Offer.

[AzDar]

13. She's a thoroughly-corrupt , documented LIAR who's under investigation by the FBI (among others)...

what could POSSIBLY go wrong w/ her as our Nominee?

[pa28]

14. Hillary outearns Bernie by a ratio of 50:1

Those speeches must be fascinating. She should share this wisdom with with the rest of the world and release transcripts.

[seabeyond]

15. The woman knows how to make money. Good for her. Work her strengths. Excel. !!!

[PufPuf23]

20. Folks here at DU question Sanders' tax return? Seriously?

This may technically be legal but that does not make the exchange of monies moral or ethical.

[Dems to Win]

21. She shot the fat middle finger to Occupy Wall Street every time she went through the bank doors

Now she doesn't understand why young people and people in financial despair don''t want to vote for her.

It'd be funny if she wasn't the likely Democratic nominee, supported by almost all Democratic leaders.

She should have had the political smarts to know that these speeches would be toxic in any future campaign. The fact she didn't is one more example of her poor judgement.

[Politicalboi]

26. Exactly

How could they not know this going in, and the ones that support her. And her private e-mail bullshit, going behind Obama's back.

[Avalux]

27. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE needs to know this.

Sure there are Hillary supporters that ignore it and pretend as if Hillary is in no way influenced by all that cash, but how on earth could a sane person not know in their gut how the Clinton game is played.

I wish the media wasn't so complicit.

Great post!

[matt819]

28. And while we're at it

One hill bot today complained that Bernie flew to Rome in a private plane. (Jeez, they give petty a sole new meaning.)

So, in making speeches that generated more than $150 million, did bill and Hilary fly coach on spirit airlines, or do you think maybe first class or private gulfstreams?

[Cheese Sandwich]

29. That's actually a really good point