Tag: fort knox

The Truth About Fort Knox and Gold Leasing

Whatever happened to the Donald Trump and Elon Musk visit to Fort Knox?

You’ll recall the buzz from earlier this year. Trump and Musk loudly announced they were going to visit the U.S. bullion depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky to make sure the U.S. gold was actually there. The press was invited to tag along. Musk claimed that his DOGE team was ready to “audit” the gold bars to see that there were none missing. I had my own views on the announcement (described below) but I certainly agreed this would be the mother of all photo ops.

For the record, the U.S. Treasury holds 8,133.5 metric tonnes of gold in the U.S. reserve position. Slightly less than half of this gold is stored in Fort Knox. The remainder is mostly stored in a secure vault at West Point, New York. The exact location of that vault is classified although I happen to know where it is. A small amount is held at the Denver Mint for coinage purposes. Legally the U.S. Treasury owns the gold reserve, but I point out that the U.S. Army actually controls it since almost all of the gold is stored on two Army bases – Fort Knox and West Point.

A Fort Knox Extravaganza

None of this nuance about storage and location deterred Trump and Musk. In the popular imagination, all of the gold is in Fort Knox. That’s where they were headed to prove once and for all that the gold was actually there. Elon Musk planned to livestream the entire visit using his Starlink satellite system. Trump vaguely threatened that if any gold were missing, there would be disastrous consequences for any wrongdoers who removed it. The plot was set. The drama seemed irresistible.

As an aside, I was hoping that Trump and Musk were each reasonably fit and had been lifting some free weights. Gold is heavy! In fact, it’s one of the most dense materials in the periodic table of the elements, leaving aside radioactive elements like uranium and some of the trace elements that only exist in minute atomic-level quantities. A standard 400-Troy Ounce bar weighs 27.4 pounds in the English system. I’ve lifted a few during my visits to secure gold vaults. I always smile for the camera, but inside it takes a lot of strength to keep the gold bar in the air. I was concerned that Trump or Musk might strain their backs putting on a show for the press.

Trump mentioned the proposed visit to Fort Knox in a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. He mentioned it to reporters aboard Air Force One. He mentioned his plan again in remarks before the National Governors Association Conference and at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) annual meeting.

Then suddenly the whole story went away. Trump never mentioned it again after February 26. Musk went radio silent on the topic after April 6. There was no visit to Fort Knox. There was no announcement about why there would be no visit. It was as if the whole story never happened. It just went away.

Now, Elon Musk is leaving his position as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). That was always in the cards. Musk’s appointment was as a temporary government employee; he was always going to leave about now. But why not put on a memorable gold show during his time in office? It simply never happened.

The Question Is, Why?

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Bill to Audit U.S. Gold Reserves Introduced in Congress

In a small step toward ensuring transparency and protecting U.S. economic stability, legislation to fully audit U.S. gold reserves was introduced in Congress last week.

H.R. 3795, titled the Gold Reserve Transparency Act of 2025, is sponsored by U.S. Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and co-sponsored by Representatives Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), Addison McDowell (R-N.C.), and Troy Nehls (R-Texas). According to a press release by Massie’s congressional office, the bill would require “the Comptroller General to conduct and publicly release a full audit of gold reserves held by the United States. The Comptroller General’s audit will include gold held in ‘deep storage’ locations such as Fort Knox, Kentucky.”

The press release continues:

The Gold Reserve Transparency Act of 2025 further requires the Comptroller General to conduct subsequent audits of the nation’s gold reserves every five years. In addition, the Comptroller General is instructed to report on the sufficiency of measures currently in place to ensure the physical safety of the gold reserves, to provide a full accounting of encumbrances against the gold reserves, and to document any sales, purchases, disbursements, or receipts over the past 50 years that have affected the gold reserves.

In a post on X, Massie stated:

In February, President Trump said he wanted to go to Fort Knox to “make sure the gold is there.” This bill provides the full disclosure President Trump seeks.

A full audit of U.S. gold reserves — as well as of the Federal Reserve — is long overdue. In a 2015 article titled “Has the Federal Reserve Sold the Gold at Fort Knox?” The New American reported on indications that the U.S. mint could not account for U.S. gold reserves and that the Federal Reserve secretly misused them, amid calls at the time to conduct an audit. The article reported:

There are many who claim that the Federal Reserve doesn’t want a proper audit because the gold is not there, at least not all of it. Some groups believe that as part of its effort to manipulate the economy, the Federal Reserve has sold the gold.

Not until 10 years later did this issue gain widespread attention, after Elon Musk and U.S. Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) highlighted the lack of transparency at Fort Knox.

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The Gold At Fort Knox Was Stolen From Americans

In recent days, President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Senator Rand Paul, and some others have pressed for an audit of the US gold reserves, with a special focus on the gold at Fort Knox. This is perfectly reasonable given that the US gold reserves – which are the property of the US Treasury and not the Federal Reserve – have not undergone even a partial audit in at least forty years.

Part of the reason for the audit is to discover if any of the gold has been stolen. The US Mint, the government agency that acts as custodian of the gold, has reported for many years that the official size of the gold reserve is 8,133.46 metric tons of gold. Since there has been no audit in so many decades, though, the Mint’s position is essentially “trust us, bro.” Trusting federal bureaucrats has never been a particularly wise policy, and this is why there are ongoing demands for some sort of transparent audit.

If the total size of the US’s gold holdings is revealed to be a number below the official number, then it will just be the latest reminder that there a great many thieves and incompetents among the people running the US federal government. After all, if there is less gold than reported in the US gold reserves, it was presumably stolen at some point.

This would be a fitting destiny for the US government’s gold since much of that was stolen to begin with. When I say “stolen,” I don’t even mean in the sense that “taxation is theft” and that the US bought the gold using tax dollars. In truth, the way the US Treasury acquired much of its gold hoard is even more underhanded than ordinary taxation.

Rather, it is likely that most of the gold at Fort Knox, as with the US regime’s gold in general, is gold stolen from ordinary Americans as a part of Franklin Roosevelt’s efforts to end the gold standard and confiscate private gold holdings in the United States. That is, the US gold reserves are a legacy of the way the US government reneged on its promises to redeem US dollars in gold. Rather than pay out the gold that was owed to holders of US dollars, the US government hoarded it instead. That stolen gold is what the auditors will be counting if the US government ever allows an honest accounting of the Treasury’s gold reserves.

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Pres. Trump Announces Plan to Inspect Fort Knox Gold Reserves to ‘Make Sure the Gold is There” — Musk Suggest to Do Livestream

President Donald Trump announced Thursday his intention to personally inspect the United States’ gold reserves housed at Fort Knox.

This announcement comes amid growing speculation regarding the actual contents of the United States Bullion Depository.

As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) has called for a long-overdue audit of the U.S. gold reserves at Fort Knox—reportedly something that hasn’t happened in nearly 50 years.

The demand comes as concerns grow over whether the 4,580 tons of U.S. gold supposedly stored in Fort Knox still exist or if bureaucrats and the Federal Reserve have been engaging in financial sleight-of-hand behind closed doors.

The call for transparency gained momentum when conservative news outlet Zero Hedge sparked debate on X, posting: “It would be great if @elonmusk could take a look inside Fort Knox just to make sure the 4,580 tons of US gold is there. Last time anyone looked was 50 years ago in 1974.”

Musk quickly responded: “Surely it’s reviewed at least every year?”

To which Rand Paul fired back with a truth bomb: “Nope. Let’s do it.”

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