Obama will make $400,000 for his first Wall Street speech to the people he called 'fat cat bankers' - and it's double what Hillary Clinton used to charge
- President Obama has inked a contract to deliver a paid speech to Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald
- The price he is commanding is double what Hillary Clinton got for similar events
- It is the first paid speech he has committed to give as a former president
- Obama is also penning a new memoir for a reported $65 million in a joint deal with former first lady Michelle Obama
- Clinton was dogged by the trail of paid speeches she delivered up until weeks before she jumped into the presidential race
- Obama made his first public remarks since leaving office in Chicago on Monday
President Barack Obama has inked a deal that will bank him $400,000 to speak to a Wall Street firm, placing him on the money train that caused his would-be successor Hillary Clinton problems in her presidential campaign.
The speaking fee, for a health care conference being run by Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald LP, equals the salary Obama earned for an entire year as president.
It also puts him on the payroll of an industry he previously derided as being comprised of 'fat cats,' after stressing elements of his own biography like his time as a community organizer in Chicago.
The former president will be the keynote speaker at a luncheon at a health care conference in September, Fox Business reported, citing sources at the firm.
President Barack Obama will deliver a $400,000 speech to Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald, Fox Business reported
The network reported that Obama has signed the contract, but some details were still being worked out.
"I did not run for office to be helping out a bunch of fat cat bankers on Wall Street,” Obama said in 2009, while the country was still in the grip of a financial crisis that many blame in part on Wall Street's own freewheeling practices.
Obama is following in the path of several other recent presidents who found they were able to easily monetize the experiences they gained in the world's most powerful elected position.
Politico reported two years ago that George W. Bush commands up to $175,000 a speech, delivering in excess of 200 paid speeches.
Hillary Clinton took heat throughout her primary battle against Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders for her own paid speeches, which included talks to Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street firms.
As former secretary of state and a possible future candidate, Hillary Clinton commanded about the same amount for speeches to business and association groups.
President Obama said he didn't run for office to help a bunch of 'fat cat bankers'
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gives an acceptance speech after accepting the Trailblazer Award during the LGBT Community Center Dinner at Cipriani Wall Street on Thursday, April 20, 2017, in New York
President Bill Clinton gives a farewell address at the 2016 Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting at Sheraton New York Times Square on September 21, 2016 in New York City
Sanders repeatedly demanded that Clinton release the remarks she made to the firm.
Clinton delivered final paid speech before her campaign to the American Camp Association in March of 2015, banking $260,000.
Word of Obama's speech comes just after he made his return to public life with an event at the University of Chicago Monday.
The event was billed as a 'conversation on community organizing and civic engagement,' and Obama was able to draw attentino with out even mentioning Donald Trump's name at the event.
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