Loyola in New Orleans forked over a hundred grand to get Maya Angelou to speak about ten years ago (!). And she insisted on a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue in her dressing room. And she wanted a dressing room.
A quarter million is about what the Clintons would be getting for a speech. I agree that they were total fucking stooges to not see that this would create the appearance of impropriety. They bring much of this on themselves.