By CoinWeek Staff Reports …..
Is the gold at Fort Knox still there? That’s the question that President Donald Trump wants the American people to focus on as his administration barrels ahead with mass firings, trade wars, talks of annexing Canada, Greenland, and the Panama Canal, and ending U.S. support for Ukraine. While Trump’s management style is more sturm und drang than his predecessor’s, the President’s renewed talk of opening the vault to see if the gold is there leaves out the important fact that during Trump’s first term in 2017, Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin already visited the site and confirmed that the gold was, in fact, there.
Mnuchin spoke last week with CNBC about his historic 2017 audit, saying, “The gold was there when I visited it. I hope nobody’s moved it. I’m sure they haven’t. I was the first Treasury Secretary to go there in, I think, over 50 years. There’s [sic] very serious security protocols in place. Obviously, to protect the gold, that I can’t talk about. We went, we saw it and if President Trump wants it to be audited, that’s obviously something that can be easily done.”
The nation’s bullion depository is locked within a heavily-secured perimeter made up of several barbed-wire-topped fences and is under constant surveillance by a complex network of motion-detecting censors as well as the uniformed officers of the United States Mint Police. The logistical requirements to remove $400 billion in stored gold reserves would not go unnoticed by government authorities or civilians living in proximity of the facility.
Nevertheless, on February 23, 2025, President Trump spoke in front of a gaggle of reporters and announced that he planned to visit Fort Knox to “make sure the gold is still there.”
Adding to the drama is Elon Musk, the titular head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), who tweeted a 2012-vintage meme just a week before suggesting that the gold at Fort Knox was all gone.
Additionally, this must be an interesting time for Biden appointee Ventris Gibson to serve as Director of the United State Mint. First the cent is “eliminated” and now her integrity is questioned because the world’s richest man implies that America’s gold reserves may have been stolen under her watch.
Why Does the United States Government Keep Gold at Fort Knox?
Fort Knox is the home of the United States Gold Bullion Depository. The site, one of the most secure locations on Earth, houses over $400 billion in gold. Most of it is .900 fine gold that was recovered from coins that the Treasury Department recalled starting in 1933, after President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 6102 prohibiting the private ownership of gold bullion. Roosevelt undertook this emergency measure at the start of his first term in order to sever the country from a de facto gold standard in place since the 1830s.
Since its construction, Fort Knox has been a popular subject of movies, books, and conspiracy theories, but its true story is open knowledge to anyone willing to look. Of the facility, numismatic researcher and CoinWeek contributor Roger Burdette writes:
Below the fortress-like structure lies the gold vault, which is divided into compartments and lined with granite walls. The vault casing is constructed of steel plates, steel I-beams, and steel cylinders laced with hoop bands and encased in concrete. The vault roof is of similar construction to and is independent of the Depository roof. The door of the vault weighs 22 tons and is blast-proof. No single person is entrusted with the entire combination to the vault – 10 members of the Bullion Depository staff must dial separate combinations known only to them. Beyond the main vault door, smaller internal cells provide further protection. Between the corridor encircling the vault and the outer wall of the building is space used for offices and storerooms.
In short, the gold is clearly there. This was the case when members of Congress, the media, and Mint Director Mary Brooks inspected America’s gold stocks on September 23, 1974. It was true when Mint Director Ed Moy visited the site numerous times during his tenure from 2006-2011, and it was true when Mnuchin visited with his wife on August 21, 2017 (the same day as the total solar eclipse). It is also true when current Trump Treasury Secretary Robert Bessent says it’s there.
Regardless, two outcomes of a visit by President Trump and Mr. Musk to Fort Knox can be stated with certainty: the gold will be there, and millions of Americans will refuse to believe that it is.
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