TRUMP (AP)
Clinton discloses millions in book royalties, speaking fees
Washington — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has filed new financial documents describing his personal wealth — and he isn’t waiting until they’re public to say they’re good.
Trump announced late Tuesday he had submitted his candidate financial disclosure form to the Federal Election Commission. He said it showed “a tremendous cash flow” and growing revenues from his businesses.
The form — it will be publicly available after an initial review by the government — should offer updated information about the value of his assets and the revenues produced by his businesses. According to Trump, over the last 17 months his businesses’ revenues grew by $190 million, and he earned $557 million in income.
Trump said last July in a note accompanying a previous disclosure that he was worth more than $10 billion, an assertion he also made Tuesday. Also last year, he reported that a large amount of his valuation came from the $3.3 billion in estimated worth he placed on his personal brand. Last July, Forbes magazine deflated that valuation, saying Trump’s brand was likely worth about $125 million.
In Tuesday’s release, Trump said his ability to accumulate wealth demonstrates what he described as “the kind of thinking the country needs.”
Hillary Clinton’s financial documents showed that in 2015 she earned more than $5 million in royalties from her book “Hard Choices” and about $1.5 million in speaking fees before she launched her presidential campaign.
Her husband, former president Bill Clinton, continued his lucrative speaking tour through last November, reaping more than $5 million from banking, tech and other corporate interests.
Hillary Clinton released the candidate financial disclosure form she filed to the Federal Election Commission earlier this week. The 11-page document shows that most of her personal wealth is held in a Vanguard 500 Index Fund and a separate JP Morgan Custody Account, both valued at $5 million to $25 million.
Clinton’s campaign released her disclosure Tuesday night, hours after Republican Donald Trump put out a statement describing his personal wealth at $10 billion. Clinton used the release to sting Trump for refusing to release his tax returns, a theme she has repeated in recent days. Last year, Clinton released her own family tax returns covering 1977 to 2014.
“Despite Donald Trump’s boasting, submitting his personal financial disclosure form is no breakthrough for transparency,” Clinton campaign spokeswoman Christina Reynolds said. “The true test for Donald Trump is whether he will adhere to the precedent followed by every presidential candidate in the modern era and make his tax returns available, as Hillary Clinton has done.”
Clinton’s speeches to Wall Street interests between 2013 and 2015 spurred questions about her own lack of transparency, leading to repeated calls from her Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, for transcripts of her talks to banks, investment houses and other financial interests.
The five speeches disclosed in Clinton’s latest documents include the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce paying her $150,000 for a talk in January 2015, following two other speeches in Canada that also were co-sponsored by the bank.
In all, Clinton made at least 94 appearances before corporate and other special interests between 2013 and 2015, earning more than $21.6 million for her services. A review of federal records, regulatory filings and correspondence by The Associated Press showed that almost all the 82 corporations, trade associations and other groups that paid for or sponsored Clinton’s speeches have actively sought to sway the government — lobbying, bidding for contracts, commenting on federal policy and in some cases contacting State Department officials or Clinton herself during her tenure as secretary of state.