Rahm Emanuel has earned $13M since leaving Chicago’s city hall: report

Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) disclosed that he has earned nearly $13 million since leaving office in May 2019.

The income was disclosed in paperwork filed as part of Emanuel’s nomination to be U.S. ambassador to Japan, The Chicago Sun-Times reported Wednesday.

After two terms as mayor, Emanuel served as a senior adviser to the investment banking firm Centerview Partners Advisory Holdings, where he was compensated $12,094,418 for his work, according to the Sun-Times.

This is not the first time Emanuel has had financial success in the private sector after leaving a government job.

Following his tenure in the Clinton White House, where he was a top staffer, he earned at least $16 million working for Wasserstein Perella, another investment banking firm, the Sun-Times reported.

Emanuel’s other roles in government include White House chief of staff during the Obama administration and a Democratic lawmaker in the House.

Progressive lawmakers have been critical of President Biden’s nomination of Emanuel for the ambassadorship, accusing the former mayor of helping cover up the murder of Laquan McDonald, who was killed by Chicago police in 2014.

“In any other line of work, that would have rightfully ended his career. He has no business holding any position of public trust, let alone representing our nation on the world stage,” Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Mondaire Jones (D-N.Y.) said in a joint statement earlier this year. “As Black Americans, we find the Biden Administration’s decision to nominate him not only professionally and politically indefensible, but personally offensive.”

The White House has expressed confidence that Emanuel will be confirmed.