New York Post

IT’S PAY BARACK TIME!

Gets 400G a gig

- By CLAIRE ATKINSON and BOB FREDERICKS

Former President Barack Obama won’t get out of bed these days for less than $400,000.

He pocketed that much on Thursday for appearing at the A&E Network’s advertisin­g upfront event at The Pierre hotel on the Upper East Side, The Post has learned.

And he’s got another $400,000 payday coming up in September, at an event sponsored by Wall Street powerhouse Cantor Fitzgerald.

During Thursday’s A&E event, Obama was interviewe­d for more than 90 minutes by presidenti­al historian Doris Kearns Goodwin in front of the cable network’s advertiser­s.

The former president received a standing ovation when he entered the room.

He told the crowd that in his three months out of office, he had not yet been behind the wheel of a car and was learning how to use the coffee machine at his new home in Washington, DC.

Goodwin asked how Obama handled frustratin­g moments as president, noting Abraham Lincoln would write angry letters but not mail them.

“For starters, by not having a Twitter account,” he responded, in an obvious poke at President Trump.

Among those attending were movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, Vogue editor Anna Wintour, Condé Nast CEO Bob Sauerberg, Hollywood Reporter chief Janice Min and Penske Media CEO Jay Penske.

Meanwhile, Sen. Elizabeth Warren expressed concern on Thursday over Obama’s accepting $400,000 from Cantor Fitzgerald. “I was troubled by that,” the progressiv­e firebrand and Wall Street critic said on Sirius XM’s “Alter Family Politics,” where she was plugging 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. I describe it as a snake that slithers through Washington. And that it shows up in so many different ways here in Washington.”

Hillary Clinton received $200,000 to $250,000 per speech, while husband Bill Clinton commanded as much as $750,000. Together they pulled in $153 million between 2001 and 2016, CNN reported.

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