Biden asking $300K per speech – struggles to book gigs: report

Reports on former President Joe Biden’s post-presidency pinned down more than a couple reasons speaking gigs were hard to come by — including his asking price.

Many Americans were still awaiting consequences regarding where Biden’s vast wealth was accrued and the as-yet-unresolved allegations of influence peddling, but poetic justice appeared to be playing out in post-government life. According to a report from the New York Post, after more than five decades in the Washington, D.C. swamp, takers were hard to come by for the president’s $300,000 speaking fee.

“CAA is having trouble booking gigs, which isn’t surprising,” a source told the newspaper regarding Biden’s representation with Creative Artists Agency.

The Post went on to detail that Biden may have sought even more for one of his infamous flub-filled diatribes, explaining, “A second source said they heard people close to Biden floating an even higher desired fee, despite the ex-commander in chief having a history of peddling glaring inaccuracies before his political career came to a crashing end when he delivered incoherent debate remarks that prompted a Democratic mutiny.”

Clarity on the declining Democratic leader’s expectations came after his first public speech continued to disregard Biden’s own divisive rhetoric, like referring to supporters of President Donald Trump as “garbage,” while calling for everyone “to be treated with dignity.”

Biden lectures us to treat one another ‘with dignity’ months after he labeled Trump voters as ‘garbage’ https://t.co/uWj2OHc5Gf

— BPR (@BIZPACReview) April 16, 2025

As it happened, those same remarks in Chicago to the national conference of Advocates, Counselors, and Representatives for the Disabled found Biden using the term “colored” when he brought up the black community.

“This was hard to watch,” a former White House official told the Post. “It felt like seeing someone you care about start to regress. We just wanted him to enjoy retirement like other presidents — not go out like this.”

Tuesday’s return of random bouts of shouting wasn’t the only example of why organizations were likely reluctant to invite the former president, let alone fork over a sum equivalent to the cost of many homes.

Following a surprise appearance before Harvard University Institute of Politics Wednesday, The Harvard Crimson highlighted, “His appearance was marked by gaffes of the sort that became political lightning rods during the 2024 presidential race, including mistakenly referring to Ukraine as Iraq while discussing Russia’s invasion before [senior advisor Mike] Donilon corrected him.”

“And when Biden bit into an ice cream bar after the talk, the partially melted dessert fell to the floor,” the school outlet added as a spokesperson for Harvard told the Post that Biden hadn’t been paid for the address.

Meanwhile, one source had suggested to the newspaper that it wasn’t the mental state that was at fault so much as it was the representation that the president had signed with.

The individual argued it was a “bad decision” for Biden to sign with CAA as opposed to the conference connected Harry Walker Agency to which the Clintons and former President Barack Obama, who reportedly asked no less than $400,000 following his stint in the White House, had signed.

“CAA is a Hollywood shop. They’re not set up to market speakers to, like, the national duty-free shopping conference. The bread and butter of paid speaking gigs is random large annual industry conferences,” detailed the source, as the Post pointed out a number of six-figure sums below $200,000 that Biden had secured to address universities after his vice presidency and before his presidency.

Reactions on social media readily took shots at the price tag to get Biden to leave his basement, particularly as the president who’d been ousted from his own re-election bid had lost his biggest selling point.

Because these price tags are all about influence peddling, and Joe doesn’t have any more influence.

— J (@ARaised_Eyebrow) April 17, 2025

That’s charging a lot for a guy whose speech starts and end before the intro music finishes.

— Antalicus (@AntalicusTV) April 17, 2025

$100k per intelligible word.

— Paul Reynolds (@PaulReynoldsSD) April 17, 2025

Tell Jill to stop it. He stole enough money as it is.

— Rackman (@AckRDA) April 17, 2025

In terms of Joe Biden, the word “speech” is doing a lot of work here.

— Tripp Whitbeck (@trippwhitbeck) April 17, 2025

The scam is over. pic.twitter.com/rSEBz7ktCg

— JWF (@JammieWF) April 18, 2025

Staff Writer

Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.

Latest posts by Kevin Haggerty (see all)

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.