President Trump said Thursday that he personally plans to travel to the Fort Knox military base in Kentucky to find out whether all of the nation’s gold reserves are still there.
“I want to find out,” Mr. Trump said. “So we’re going to open up the doors. I’m going to see if we have gold there. We want to find, did anyone steal the gold at Fort Knox?”
“We want to make sure that we actually have, you know, 400 tons of gold or whatever the hell it is. It’s a lot of gold. I don’t want to open it, and the cupboards are bare. Could happen,” he added.
Mr. Trump’s remarks came during a speech before the Governors Association in Washington.
The Department of Government Efficiency, led by billionaire Elon Musk, in recent days has set its sight on Fort Knox, saying the U.S. should conduct an annual audit to determine the amount of gold there.
More than 147.4 million ounces of gold is stored at the Fort Knox depository, more than any other base in the country, according to data from the U.S. Mint.
All told, the U.S. owns 8,133.46 metric tons of gold, or almost 287 million ounces, according to the World Gold Council, more than any other nation in the world.
The last reported audit at the Fort Knox reserve took place in September 1974 when several members of Congress assured Americans that the gold supply was intact, according to the Mint. President Ford also allowed a group of journalists to attend to verify the audit.
At the time, the Mint said the audit was necessary to “reassuring the public that their gold is intact and safe.”
Although there is no public evidence to suggest that gold is missing from Fort Knox, conspiracy theories have percolated online that it has disappeared. Fort Knox is a tightly secure facility with access to the base restricted to authorized personnel only.
The idea of a full audit has gained traction from within Mr. Trump’s own party after it was suggested earlier this week by Mr. Musk.
In response to Mr. Musk’s call for inspecting the gold at Fort Knox, Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, said “Let’s Do it.” Sen Mike Lee, Utah Republican, said on X that he has been repeatedly denied entry to the military installation.
However, a member of Trump’s Cabinet, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, pushed back on the notion that the gold has disappeared. He said the government conducts a private audit every year with the last one in September 2024.
“We do an audit every year. I can tell the American people … all the gold is there,” Mr. Bessent said in an interview with Bloomberg news agency.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.