Bill Clinton Raked In More Than $100 Million In Speaking Fees, Becomes Central Figure In 2016 Democratic Primary

Bill Clinton raked in more than $100 million in speaking fees, a tally that is sure to bring more attention to the activities he and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have taken part in since the end of his two terms in the Oval Office and the end of Secretary Clinton’s tenure at the State Department.

In total, former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton collected $153 million in speaking fees since the end of his presidency in 2001. According to CNN, those totals include “729 speeches from February 2001 until May, receiving an average payday of $210,795 for each address. The two also reported at least $7.7 million for at least 39 speeches to big banks, including Goldman Sachs and UBS, with Hillary Clinton, the Democratic 2016 front-runner, collecting at least $1.8 million for at least eight speeches to big banks.”

As a result of the information about the money for the speeches and to whom the speeches were given, Clinton’s Democratic challenger for her party’s nomination for president, Bernie Sanders, went on the attack during Thursday’s (February 4) debate, according to CNN.

“What being part of the establishment is, is in the last quarter, having a super PAC that raised $15 million from Wall Street, that throughout one’s life raised a whole lot of money from the drug companies and other special interests.”

Clinton has continuously defended herself against the attacks from Sanders, even launching one of the most angry attacks in recent memory from Clinton, who has not run a political campaign since the long and hard 2008 Democratic primary which resulted in her loss to then-Senator Barack Obama of Illinois.

In defending herself, CNN quoted Clinton as saying Sanders should stop with the veiled attacks.

“Time and time again, by innuendo, by insinuation, there is this attack that he is putting forth which really comes down to, you know, anybody who ever took donations or speaking fees from any interest group has to be bought. And I just absolutely reject that, senator, and I really don’t think these kinds of attacks by insinuation are worthy of you. And enough is enough.”

The attacks have continued since Thursday, with Bill Clinton going on defense for his wife in New Hampshire this weekend. POLITICO reports Bill Clinton went off on Sanders, bringing up the Sanders’ campaign’s breach of Hillary Clinton’s campaign data.

“It was your campaign that made 25 separate inquiries in the mere space of 30 minutes trying to [loot] information out of computers,” POLITICO quoted Clinton as saying, adding that Bill Clinton was “waving off Sanders’ public apology because ‘in private [his campaign] sent an email complaining [about the DNC] leaving the keys in the car, and said, all I did was drive off.'”

Even with Bill Clinton going on the attack in defense of his wife, his own legacy as president has come up time and again during the campaign. His actions with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky have been mentioned by candidates on the Republican ticket — namely Donald Trump.

But it is more than Bill Clinton’s personal past that has come up, but also his policies that seem to align more with the right than the progressive left Hillary Clinton is courting in the primaries this go around, according to the New Republic, with the magazine pointing out Sanders’ support for a deregulation bill in 2000 that Bill Clinton signed into law, but Hillary Clinton was now speaking against.

The bill in question was the Commodities Modernization Act of 2000, and Hillary Clinton hit hard against Sanders, even though it meant taking a swipe at Bill Clinton in the process.

“While we’re talking about votes,” the New Republic quoted Clinton as saying, adding “you’re the one who voted to deregulate swaps and derivatives in 2000, which contributed to the over-leveraging of Lehman Brothers, which was one of the culprits that brought down the economy.”

What do you think? Should Bill Clinton be playing such a large role in this campaign? Should his record be used against Sanders so his wife can win votes? And do the speaking fees matter? Tell us in the comments section below.

[Featured Image by John Moore/Getty Images]