Trump says he still wants to visit Fort Knox to see if gold is there

President Donald Trump's still got Fort Knox on the brain, more than a year after he said he was going to check on the country's gold supply stored at the famously secure depository.

In a May 10 interview on "Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson", the president said he "didn't know" whether an audit was necessary, but expressed interest in seeing whether the gold was there.

"Well, we wanted to go knock on the door (of) Fort Knox, a very thick door, and to see whether or not we have any gold in there...," Trump said. "It's a very interesting question. Yeah, we played with that. I wonder if they left the gold in Fort Knox because they steal a lot."

Trump's promise to investigate the Kentucky Army base in February 2025 came after tech billionaire Elon Musk, then a presidential advisor, stoked theories claiming the gold may have been taken.

According to the U.S. Mint, about half of the Treasury's stored gold, including nearly 150 million troy ounces (or 5,000 tons), is kept at Fort Knox, also known as the Bullion Depository.

The bureau has allowed a handful of visits from outsiders, such as politicians and journalists, over its history.

"I do want to go to Fort Knox sometime. I want to see if the gold is there, which I'm sure it will be," Trump added.

Is there still gold at Fort Knox?

Yes. There's no evidence to suggest the gold has gone missing from Fort Knox.

While the last reported audit at the Fort Knox reserve occurred in September 1974, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said that an audit happens "every year."

The depository broke its "strict no-visitors policy" in 1974 after rumors that all the gold had been removed from the vaults continued circulating.

A group of journalists and a Congressional delegation were granted access to the vaults to view the gold reserves for themselves.

In 2017, U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, then-Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and a few Congressional reps entered the base amid what would be the first visit by non-authorized personnel in over 40 years. That was the last tour of the Fort Knox base.

Contributing: USA TODAY's Jeanine Santucci, Kinsey Crowley and Anthony Robledo