The Daily Populous Monday May 11st, 2026 morning edition
Authored by the-independent.com and submitted by deraser

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President Donald Trump says he still wants to travel to Fort Knox, peer inside its secure vaults and verify that the gold is still there — because, he said: “They steal a lot.”

In a Sunday interview with journalist Sharyl Attkisson, the 79-year-old billionaire was asked about his February 2025 pledge to inspect the Kentucky military installation, which houses a large share of the country’s bullion reserves.

“Well, we wanted to go and knock on their door — Fort Knox, very thick door — and to see whether or not we have any gold in there,” Trump said, after being reminded about his earlier promise.

“It’s a very interesting question. We played with that. I wondered if they left the gold in Fort Knox because they steal a lot,” he added, though who exactly he was referring to was not clarified.

When asked if he still intends to follow through, the Republican president responded: “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.”

open image in gallery President Donald Trump still wants to visit Fort Knox to peer inside its gold vaults because, he said: ‘They steal a lot’ ( AP1974 )

It’s not clear if Trump has any immediate plans to visit the Army fort, located near Louisville. Representatives for the White House and Fort Knox did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Independent.

The president first signaled his desire to conduct a presidential audit in February 2025, shortly after his inauguration, during the period when Elon Musk was scrutinizing government spending in his role at the Department of Government Efficiency.

"We have found hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud so far, and we’ve just started,” Trump said at the time. “We're actually going to Fort Knox to see if the gold is there, because maybe somebody stole the gold. Tons of gold.”

Musk had promoted longstanding, unsubstantiated conspiracy theories that someone may have pilfered the nation’s gold reserves, according to NBC News. Some GOP lawmakers also called for an examination of the reserves at Fort Knox, including Rep. Thomas Massie and Sen. Rand Paul — both of Kentucky.

open image in gallery Shortly after returning to office in 2025, Trump said he intended to visit the military installation, following Elon Musk’s promotion of conspiracy theories about the site ( AFP via Getty Images )

Fort Knox is home to the United States Bullion Depository, a vast underground vault built in 1936 to hold the nation’s gold reserves.

The "impenetrable fortress” is home to “a significant portion of the nation’s gold reserves, making it one of the most secure and iconic facilities in the world,” according to the installation’s museum. Currently, it houses 147,341,858.382 fine troy ounces of gold, according to the U.S. Mint.

More than 26,000 soldiers, their relatives and civilian employees live and work at the fort. No visitors are allowed inside the bullion depository.

Despite the president’s skepticism, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in 2025 that the site is audited every year and that “all the gold is present and accounted for.”

TiedyedDwarf on May 10th, 2026 at 22:17 UTC »

Translation: Trump wants to steal the gold in Ft Knox

rhyddhau on May 10th, 2026 at 22:16 UTC »

This is almost certainly an admission that he intends to steal (presumably billions of dollars worth of) gold from the federal reserve there, right?

Economy-Surround-188 on May 10th, 2026 at 22:15 UTC »

Sooo.... he's planning on stealing some. Got it. Thanks for the heads up.