Hillary Clinton, who recently raked in $5 million dollars in speaking fees in 15 months, recounted to Diane Sawyer the sad tale of her former destitution, telling her, "We came out of the White House not only dead broke but in debt."
According to Clinton, she and her husband, who has made over $100 million since leaving the White House, "struggled to, you know, piece together the resources for mortgages for houses, for Chelsea's education, you know, it was not easy."
But, as Clinton’s story goes, the two hard-working, middle-class millionaires somehow managed to put food on the table in their multiple houses, even though they "had to make double the money, because of, obviously, taxes, and then pay off the debts and get us houses and take care of family members."
Although Sawyer wondered if Americans would understand why Hillary Clinton needs a speaking fee of $200,000, "five times the median income in this country for one speech", Clinton assured her that she’s taking the high road: "I thought making speeches for money was a much better thing than getting connected with any one group or company as so many people who leave public life do."
Later Sawyer also remarked on Clinton’s benevolence, reminding us "and she does make a lot of speeches for free, of course, to the groups she cares about so much."