Friends gave Clintons $10 million to pay debts --- and they still stiffed lawyers for years

When Bill and Hillary Clinton left the White House, donors had covered all but $3.9 million of their still growing scandal legal bill -- easily covered by her 2000 $4 million book advance -- but they didn't pay off their lawyers for years.

Using two legal defense funds that raised about $10 million while Clinton was president, the former first couple got donors includingauthor Stephen King, actor Robert DeNiro, singer Tony Bennett and Black Entertainment Television founder Robert L. Johnson to give up to $10,000 each.

Even taxpayers eventually coughed up $85,000 for lawyers handling a long list of scandals including Whitewater, impeachment and the Monica Lewinsky sex affair. Clinton had askedthe government to cover $3.5 million, but a court cut it to $85,000.

But according to Hillary Clinton's Senate financial disclosure forms, the couple's legal bill wasn't fully paid until sometime in 2004 or 2005, when the same documents revealed a joint bank account worth between $5 million and $25 million and a blind trust valued at $5 million to $25 million. And that form didn't include Bill Clinton's massive speaking fees and earnings from his own multi-million dollar book.

More