Hillary Clinton got $500,000 in jewelry from Saudi King
The most valuable gift was "white gold jewelry with teardrop rubies and diamonds containing a necklace, a bracelet, earrings and a ring" valued at $500,000 to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton from Saudi King Abdullah.
She also received a "Mouawad Larme D'Amour 18k gold, sapphire, and diamond earrings, necklace, and bracelet," valued at $58,000 from the Queen of Brunei and a $1,750 silver tea set from the president of Algeria.
http://www.fireandreamitchell.com/2013/09/01/hillary-clinton-got-500000-jewelry-saudi-king/
The Obamas were paid off nicely too:
President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama received dozens of foreign gifts. The president's gifts ranged from an autographed red, white, and blue basketball from Chinese President Xi Jinping, to a $16,500 gold-plated clock from the Saudi Arabian defense minister.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon sent Obama a collection including a Coca-Cola bottle decorated with beads, two shirts, silver cuff links, and five bottles of liquor in a wooden chest. Obama also received a custom table-tennis set from British Prime Minister David Cameron and several books from various leaders around the world.
Senior White House officials were also recipients of King Abdullah's largesse, with top aides like national security adviser James Jones, David Axelrod, Rahm Emmanuel, Valerie Jarrett and spokesman Robert Gibbs receiving watches, cufflinks, pens, earrings and bracelets valued at between $5,000 and $9,000.
Other gift-givers:
- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was a distant runner up to King Abdullah, with gifts for the first family worth a little under $33,000. The Italian haul included silk ties, a gold watch, a crystal table and candlesticks. Berlusconi also gave nearly $2,000 worth of ties and scarves to members of Congress in 2009, including the speaker of the House at the time, Nancy Pelosi.
- Chinese President Hu Jintao gave Obama a $20,000 silk embroidery of the first family.
- French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife sent perfume and a $4,500 black Christian Dior handbag.
- British Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave the president a pen and holder made from the wood of the warship HMS Gannet, which played a role in Victorian era anti-slavery efforts, along with two biographies of Winston Churchill with a total value of $16,510.
- Israeli President Shimon Peres, with an apparent eye toward peacemaking, gave Obama a bronze statue of a girl releasing doves, worth $8,000.
- Pope Benedict XVI gave the president a gilt-framed mosaic of St. Peter's Square, a decorative gold coin with the pontiff's profile and several books valued at $7,905.
- Britain's Queen Elizabeth presented Obama with framed portraits of herself and her husband, Prince Philip, worth $775.
- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas offered the U.S. leader $521 in gifts, including the least expensive item listed by the State Department: a $75 bottle of olive oil.
__._,_.___
