BIG PAYDAY SPEECHES FOR BIG WIGS : Bush about $15 million in Dubya, Reagan took heat for accepting $2 million for two speeches in Japan. Bill Clinton took $65 million in speaking fees from 2001 to 2009, Hillary Clinton $7.5 million from 36 speeches in 2009 alone...Donald Trump Got for another 17 seminars in 2006 and 2007 for $1.5 million each.

Excerpt taken from Daily Beast Article

Oct 27, 2016

George W. Bush said after bin Laden's killing that he wanted to stay out of the public eye. But Peter H. Stone says he's becoming a high-profile figure on the buck-raking circuit.

George W. Bush said after bin Laden’s killing that he wanted to stay out of the public eye. But Peter H. Stone of the Center for Public Integrity's iWatch News says 43's becoming a high-profile figure on the buck-raking circuit.

George Bush

When George W. Bush declined President Obama’s invitation to a ceremony at New York’s ground zero after Osama bin Laden was killed, the former president cited his desire to keep a low public profile.

Bill Clinton

But Bush has been raising his profile in a different, and lucrative, way: He has raked in millions of dollars since leaving office by making scores of speeches that typically earn him six figures a pop.

In the week after Obama’s May 5 ground zero event, the 43rd president made time for three separate speeches to hedge-fund executives, a Swiss bank sanctioned for keeping secret bank accounts, and a pro golf event underwritten by the accounting firm involved in the Tyco International financial scandal.

Bush’s standard speaking fee is reportedly between $100,000 and $150,000.

Donald Trump

Ronald Reagan

David Sherzer, a spokesman for the former president, said that since Bush left office he has delivered nearly 140 paid talks, at home and abroad. Those speeches have earned Bush about $15 million, following in the golden path blazed by his predecessor, Bill Clinton.

Almost all of Bush’s speeches are closed to the press. Bush uses the Washington Speakers Bureau to arrange his paid speaking gigs.

To some presidential historians, Bush’s numerous high-priced speaking engagements don’t sit well. “I find it puzzling,” said Stanford University historian Robert Dallek. “He says he wants to keep a low profile. What is he doing except enriching himself? It sounds like it’s self-serving. It’s following the good old American adage to make as much as you can.” The Donald for another 17 seminars in 2006 and 2007 for $1.5 million each.   more