Presidential Election 2016
Private Planes & Luxury Dinners—Inside Bill Clinton's Greedy Demands
July 12 2016, Updated 5:16 p.m. ET
Hillary Clinton isn't the only big spender in the family.
Newly leaked emails reveal husband Bill shook down event organizers with exorbitant speaking fees, over the top phone charges, and pricey private plane demands.
The LA Times obtained emails and contracts this week that reveal the former president's demands when he the hit the speaking circuit shortly after leaving the White House.
"Clinton changed the rules of political speech-making for cash. He would push not just corporate hosts but also nonprofits and universities to pay fees well beyond what they were accustomed to," the Times wrote.
The documents, which became public after the Republican National Committee requested an open-records request, reveal exchanges tied to six speeches Clinton delivered in the Bay Area in 2002.
When he began giving speeches in 2001 he doubled the normal speaking fee former presidents would charge, upping the usual $60,000 to over $100,000. "Bill Clinton collected $100,000 per speech for six events over the course of a week in November 2002," The LA Times wrote.
One major requirement demanded by Clinton when giving a speech affiliated with Foothill-Deanza Community College District was that all questions to be asked receive prior approval from his staff.
"He is the only person I can think of that required it. It has never happened before or since," Richard Henning, who runs the speaking series, told the LA Times.
His contract stipulated that the former president be transported by private plane from San Francisco to an event only 70 miles away.
Bill was set to speak at the Mondavi Center on the UC Davis campus, and another organizer said he had not experienced anything like that before.
In addition to these expensive demands, he also racked up a $1,400 hotel phone bill from a stay at San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel and $700 for a dinner for two.
Clinton did provide a discount though, dropping a speaking fee from $125,000 to $100,000.
This is par for the course for the Clintons. Bill and Hillary earned more than $153 million in paid speeches from 2001 until Hillary began her presidential campaign in 2015, CNN reported.
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The duo gave a total of 729 speeches from February 2001 until May 2016, earning an average pay of over $200,000 for each speech.
