Joe and Jill Biden reported earning $15.6 million from book deals and speaking engagements since leaving the White House

AP Photo/Matt Rourke

Former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, former Second Lady Jill Biden, reported earning over $15 million since leaving the White House, according to financial disclosures and tax returns filed Tuesday.
The couple reported earning $11 million immediately after leaving the White House in 2017 and $4.5 million in 2018. Their tax returns showed they paid $5.2 million in federal taxes between those two years.
Their main sources of income were from book deals they signed after leaving the White House and dozens of speaking engagements, with Biden regularly charging six figures for a single speech.
For decades, Biden’s nickname was "Middle Class Joe" and he drew on his humble roots from growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a working-class city, to connect with blue-collar voters.
A June report in the Washington Post found that in addition to two homes they own in Delaware, the Bidens currently rent a 12,000 square foot estate in McLean, Virginia.
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Former Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, former Second Lady Jill Biden, reported earning over $15 million since leaving the White House, according to financial disclosures and tax returns filed Tuesday.

The disclosures show that since 2017, both Bidens signed lucrative book deals, with Biden earning anywhere from $8,000 to $90,000 for book tour stops to promote his 2017 memoir "Promise Me, Dad," and continued to earn royalties from his New York Times bestselling 2008 book "Promises to Keep."

The couple reported earning $11 million immediately after leaving the White House in 2017 and $4.5 million in 2018. Their tax returns showed they paid $5.2 million in federal taxes between those two years, NBC noted.

In addition to a position at the University of Pennsylvania that carried an annual salary of $400,000, Biden regularly brought in six-figures from a single paid speech, earning between $66,000 and $182,679 per speech for 18 speeches he gave in 2017 and 2018.

According to an in-depth June report from The Washington Post, Biden’s contracts for speaking engagements often included allocations for travel to allow Biden to fly on a private plane and be driven by a private driver in a town car, and required his dressing rooms to be stocked with coffee, Coca-Cola, and a full-length mirror.

Jill Biden’s disclosures showed she earned $90,000 a year for her position teaching English at Northern Virginia Community College, in addition to royalties from her 2012 children’s book "Don’t Forget, God Bless Our Troops" and an advance for her memoir "Where the Light Enters," which was released in May 2019.

Jill also reported income from 17 speaking engagements in 2017 and 2018, earning between $25,000 and $46,000 per speech.

The Bidens’ new financial forms said they current hold assets between $2.2 and $8 million, a significant increase over the assets they reported before leaving the White House in 2017, which they listed as being worth $330,000 and $1 million.

For decades, Biden was nicknamed "Middle Class Joe," and he drew on his humble roots from growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania, a working-class city, to connect with blue-collar voters and form connections with organized labor in his home state of Delaware and nationwide.

"If I heard one more thing about the scrappy kid from Scranton, Pennsylvania, and carrying a lunch bucket — I never carried a lunch bucket, but I guess I’m the middle-class guy. By the way, I’m proud of that. I’m proud of that," Biden said at a 2009 event, according to The Post.

But since leaving the White House, Biden has capitalized on his nearly 50 years in public life. According to The Post, they currently own two homes in Delaware, acquiring a beach house in Rehoboth, Delaware worth $2.7 million in 2017.

They also rent a sprawling 12,000 foot estate including a sauna, gym, and enough parking for 20 cars in McLean, Virginia across the river from Washington, DC, with Zillow estimating the property’s monthly rent to be $20,000.

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Source: Business Insider – gpanetta@businessinsider.com (Grace Panetta)