Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., encouraged President Donald Trump's Department of Government Efficiency to audit the country's gold reserve at Fort Knox.
Elon Musk, whom Trump put in charge of DOGE, responded to an X user who said 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."
"Surely it's reviewed at least every year?" wrote Musk, who later received an answer from Paul.
"Nope. Let's do it," the senator wrote Sunday morning.
Fort Knox, located south of Louisville's gold reserves, houses gold reserves worth an estimated $425 billion.
However, the government assesses the book value of $42.22 per ounce, even though gold currently is trading at nearly $2,900 per troy ounce.
The U.S. Mint says Fort Knox houses at least 147.3 million ounces — 9.2 million pounds — worth of gold, half of the Treasury's reserve gold.
The vault's relevance is not what it used to be since the U.S. left the gold standard in 1971. The gold has become another Federal Reserve asset.
It is unclear when the vaults last underwent a comprehensive audit, the New York Post reported.
Conspiracy theories have surfaced since at least the 1970s that the gold had been sold off by the government.
Former Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, the senator's father, previously pressed government officials for greater transparency on the country's reserves.
In 2010, Ron Paul introduced legislation that would see the fort audited.
"My attitude is, let's just find out what's there," Paul said at the time, according to CBS News.
Reporters and lawmakers toured the facility in 1974 after claims the gold had been looted. In 2017, during the first Trump administration, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Rep. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., were among officials allowed to view the gold, which remained untouched.
Last week on X, Musk supported the idea of Ron Paul becoming chair of the Federal Reserve.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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