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Trump Confirms Fort Knox Audit, But Gold Slips As Bessent Downplays Revaluation Rumors

Having started the 'Audit Fort Knox' discussion last week...

With our suggestion immediately going viral on X, with Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) indicating he's on board - replying to Musk with "Let's do it."

...we were pleased to see that during comments to the press aboard Air Force One, President Trump announced that he and Elon Musk’s DOGE are going to open up Fort Knox and make sure all the gold that is supposed to be there is present.

“We’re going to go to Fort Knox make sure the gold is there,” Trump said, adding “if the gold isn’t there we are going to be very upset.”

Musk has suggested doing a live stream from the facility where over 4500 tons of gold belonging to the American people is supposed to be stored. 

As a reminder, Fort Knox has not been audited since the 1970s and not comprehensively since 1953.

trump confirms fort knox audit but gold slips as bessent downplays revaluation rumors

However, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was a little more pragmatic during an interview on BloombergTV, downplaying the Fort Knox 'missing' gold narrative and the rumor of a potential revaluation of the precious metal pile.

When discussing plans for a sovereign wealth fund, Bessent said revaluing US gold reserves is “not what I had in mind.” 

That appeared to play down the idea of revaluing reserves from the $42-an-ounce price set in 1973 to current market prices, which would deliver a one-time windfall of around $750 billion for the government and thereby reduce the need to issue bonds. 

The Treasury Secretary also said he had no plans to visit Fort Knox -  where much of the US gold reserve is kept - adding that “all the gold is there” and any senator is welcome to visit to see it. 

Any Senator that is except Mike Lee?

The combination of Trump and Bessent's comments sent the precious metal initially to a new record high price of $2954, before fading back to  $2925...

trump confirms fort knox audit but gold slips as bessent downplays revaluation rumors

The barbarous relic has hit successive records this year, after climbing 27% in 2024; and as we detailed here this week, Goldman raised its year-end target to $3,100 an ounce, saying that stronger-than-expected central-bank buying would be a key driver for prices.

via February 20th 2025