$13M

For Rahm Emanuel, former mayor and President Biden’s choice as ambassador to Japan, long stretches in public service are interspersed with short bursts of grabbing all the money he can get his hands on. In four years between leaving the Clinton White House and winning election to Congress in 2002, Emanuel earned
$16 million as an investment banker.

Since Emanuel’s term as mayor ended in 2019, he’s been raking it in even faster, according to disclosures for his Senate confirmation: $12 million for his work as a senior adviser to Centerview Partners, $700,000 consulting for Wicklow Capital and $310,472 as an ABC News talking head.

It’s not like he’ll need the cash. The average U.S. ambassador’s salary is $181,878 a year — plus free housing in the host country’s capital.