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Clintons still owe nearly $4 million in legal fees

Bill and Hillary Clinton

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Clintons are nearly $4 million short of paying off their legal bills despite years of intense fund raising to rid themselves of legal debts racked up from various investigations, including Whitewater and the impeachment scandal, their trust said Wednesday.

The Clinton Legal Expense Trust -- the fund created to pay the legal bills for former President Clinton and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York -- and an earlier fund have paid $7.4 million in legal fees so far.

But that is far short of the $11.3 million of fees accrued during eight years in the Oval Office from January 20, 1993, to January 20, 2001. The Clinton fund has raised $8.7 million in contributions since its formation in 1998, receiving more than 116,000 donations for an average of $75 per contributor.

Some of the money has gone toward administrative expenses. In 2000, for example, the trust accepted a little more than $1.5 million in donations. About $1 million went toward legal expenses and roughly $450,000 went toward various administrative costs, including direct mailing expenses and office rent, according to an audit of the trust done by a private accounting firm.

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The firm is Argy, Wiltse & Robinson of McLean, Virginia.

The trust accepts contributions of $10,000 or less per person a year from individuals who are U.S. citizens and are not registered lobbyists.

The trust, bound by law, cannot accept contributions from corporations and partnerships. Nor can it take money from political action committees, labor unions or other politically oriented groups.

Clinton's Legal Defense Fund

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