Barack Obama to give $400,000 speech to Wall Street bankers

Former President Barack Obama hosts a conversation on civic engagement and community organizing at the University of Chicago in Chicago. Photo / AP

Senator Elizabeth Warren has chastised former President Obama for inking a $400,000 deal to speak at a Wall Street firm, the Daily Mail reports.

"I was troubled by that," the progressive senator said on SiriusXM's Alter Family Politics, according to the New York Post.

Warren sat down for the interview promoting her new book, This Fight Is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America's Middle Class.

"One of the things I talk about in the book is the influence of money," Warren continued.

"I describe it as a snake that slithers through Washington. And that is shows up in so many different ways here in Washington."

Obama inked a deal that will bank him $400,000 to speak at a health care conference being run by Wall Street firm Cantor Fitzgerald LP.

The amount 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.

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.

Former President Barack Obama waves goodbye as he boards a Marine helicopter during a departure ceremony on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington. Photo / AP

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 Senator 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.

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 attention without even mentioning Donald Trump's name at the event.