Yahoo News Barack Obama criticised for '$400,000 Wall Street speech fee'
Barack Obama has been criticised for reportedly accepting a fee of $400,000 to address a Wall Street bank in September.
The former US president has previously referred to Wall Street bankers as "fat cats" and in 2009 said the financial crisis was “caused in part by completely irresponsible actions on Wall Street”.
The reported fee is close to twice the amount Hillary Clinton was paid for three speeches to Goldman Sachs in 2015.
The former presidential nominee was heavily criticised for the speeches and it had an impact on her campaign.
Less than 100 days after he left the White House, Mr Obama has reportedly agreed the deal with Cantor Fitzgerald LP, the mid-sized New York-based investment bank.
He will apparently make a speech at the firm's health care conference in September.
“Is there an irony here because he spoke incessantly about the income gap and is now earning from those same people he criticized? Yes it is,” Hank Sheinkopf, a Democratic political consultant, told the New York Post.
“Should we expect it? Yes, we should because all former presidents do this. He went on the attack against Wall Street and now he’s being fed by those same people he called ‘fat cats.’ It’s more hypocritical than ironic.”
Mr Obama spoke publicly for the first time since leaving office on Monday.
“The single most important thing I can do is to help in any way I can to prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton and to take their own crack at changing the world,” he told students at the University of Chicago.
There was no response from representatives for Mr Obama to the reports of the $400,000 fee.
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