Biden income exceeds $15M after VP stint

WASHINGTON — Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, took in more than $15 million since leaving the Obama White House, according to documents released Tuesday, catapulting the Democratic presidential candidate into millionaire status and denting the working-class aura he’s developed over decades.

Long fond of describing himself as “Middle Class Joe” while he took in little more than his government salary, the former vice president stressed his working-class roots from the very beginning of his bid for his party’s 2020 presidential nomination. But federal tax returns and a financial disclosure show that since Biden left public office, his income has surged thanks to a lucrative book deal and constant publicity tours that brought in more than $4 million.

Biden’s disclosure showed that he also made at least $2.7 million in business income as part of his publicity tour and writing and took a $425,000 salary from Celticcapri Corp., the business entity the Bidens used for their post-white House work.

Since leaving the White House, Biden and his wife signed a multibook deal with Flatiron Books valued at $8 million, according to Publishers Weekly. Biden’s first book, an account of his son Beau’s death from cancer, briefly topped bestseller lists in 2017. He and his wife have also worked on two other book projects.

Biden earned $540,000 as a professor and namesake of the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement.

Jill Biden made at least $700,000 in her own speaking engagements, the disclosure shows.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail:

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-cortez teamed up on a measure that would designate climate change as an emergency, and they have won early support from one of Sanders’ fellow Democratic presidential candidates. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who is competing with Sanders for the support of liberal voters in the presidential primary, plans to sign onto the resolution when it’s introduced in the Senate, according to a spokeswoman.

The third Democratic presidential debate will be held in Houston in September. The Democratic National Committee is requiring participants to hit 2 percent in multiple polls and collect contributions from 130,000 individual donors. Only polls taken between June 28 and Aug. 28 will count.