The primary money-making engine was Bill Clinton. Her 2001 disclosure stated that she and her husband paid more than $13.1 million in legal fees "for themselves and former staff members." By 2004, those debts had been erased. Hillary Clinton's disclosure as a Senate candidate listed outstanding legal bills totaling between $2.3 million and $10.6 million.
The presidential salary of $200,000 had been overwhelmed by defense attorneys' fees for scandal investigations, the impeachment proceedings against Bill Clinton and action to suspend his Arkansas law license. When Hillary Clinton famously said, "We came out of the White House not only dead broke but millions of dollars in debt," she wasn't far wrong. Zillow now values the house at $6.6 million. News accounts noted the sellers were registered Republicans. The asking price was $3.5 million they got it for $2.85 million. The following year, barely a month after Hillary Clinton won the New York Senate race, the Clintons bought a second home: a red-brick Colonial, also with five bedrooms, near Washington's Embassy Row. Terry McAuliffe, a Democratic fundraising wizard and close friend of the Clintons who's now the governor of Virginia, put $1.35 million in a bank account to backstop the mortgage. For the borrowed amount, $1.35 million, the lending bank wanted some sort of guarantee.Īgain, a friend stepped in to help. The mortgage required a down payment of $350,000. By not paying down the principal, they would keep payments low until they were settled. The Clintons got a five-year, interest-only mortgage. It cost $1.7 million - also what it's worth today according to an estimate by the online real estate firm Zillow. They bought their post-presidency home, an 1889-vintage, five-bedroom house in Chappaqua, N.Y. In 1999, Bill Clinton's second term was winding down and Hillary Clinton was preparing her Senate campaign in New York. He helped her turn a $1,000 investment into a return of nearly $100,000. Her guide was James Blair, a close family friend and a Little Rock lawyer whose corporate clients sometimes dealt with government agencies. Hillary had better advice and more success with commodities trading. It triggered a scandal even as they lost money. They borrowed to invest with friends in a vacation-home development called Whitewater. It brought mixed success and plenty of controversy. The Clintons invested, sometimes with help from friends. Wal-Mart is now a donor to the Clinton Foundation. In 1991 she was paid $110,000 by the firm and $60,700 from the three corporations. Hillary, a rising young lawyer and the governor's wife, became a partner at the Rose Law Firm she also served on the boards of directors of Wal-Mart, TCBY and LaFarge, the American subsidiary of a French cement manufacturer. The Clintons built their wealth in two stages: first in Arkansas, and then on the East Coast after Bill's presidency ended.Īs attorney general and then governor of Arkansas from 1976 to 1992, Bill Clinton was paid at most $35,000 a year. "Money is very, very familiar and so are the people who have it," he said.
He said the wealthy have usually dominated American politics, and the system enables successful politicians to move up. "The Clintons have always been very careful to walk about two inches inside the line," said Michael Johnston, a professor emeritus at Colgate University who is researching public perceptions of legal and illegal corruption. What they seem not to have done, contrary to Internet theories, is break any laws. If they return in January, it will be as millionaires.įorbes estimates of their wealth range at $50 million the Clintons got there through hard work, while also benefiting from their fame and their friendships. The couple paid $1.7 million for the home when they purchased it in 1999.īill and Hillary Clinton moved into the White House in 1993 as a first couple of modest means.
Hillary and Bill Clinton outside their home in Chappaqua, N.Y., in January 2000.