Politics
Trump Has Raised Questions About Fort Knox. His Allies Are Trying to Cash In.
It is one of the more baffling story lines of Donald J. Trump’s second term. The president has said he wants to personally visit Fort Knox to ensure that no one has stolen the government-owned gold bars that are stored there.
Mr. Trump has not explained why any gold might be missing from the nation’s heavily guarded reserves. His own Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, has insisted that there is no reason to worry. “All the gold is there,” Mr. Bessent emphatically told Bloomberg in February, at one point looking directly into a camera and addressing the American people.
Mr. Trump’s interest in the gold reserves has been largely overshadowed by his family’s involvement in various cryptocurrency ventures, which has raised ethical concerns about potential conflicts of interest.
The president has a long history of embracing conspiracy theories, and is known to be a fan of golden and gilded things. It is difficult to say what exactly is behind his recent fanning of unfounded fears about Fort Knox, which have been floating around since at least the 1970s.
A White House spokesperson did not respond when asked to comment for this story.
What is certain is that gold is on many investors’ minds these days. Generally seen as a safe place to park wealth during tumultuous periods, the precious metal has risen to record prices recently, in part because of the global economic uncertainty that the president’s shifting tariff policies caused.
Some of Mr. Trump’s allies, including his eldest son, serve as pitchmen for gold investment companies that advertise heavily on their podcasts or radio shows.
And some of them have been using fresh concerns about Fort Knox to make a profit.
The Gold Conspiracy That Wouldn’t Go Away
If nothing else, Mr. Trump’s Fort Knox obsession has resurfaced one of the deeper cuts in the American conspiracy theory catalog.
One reason the government holds onto such large stores of gold is to confer a sense of financial stability, even though the country moved off the gold standard in the 20th century. According to the United States Mint, 147.3 million ounces of gold, about half of the government’s stash, is held at Fort Knox.
The Kentucky facility, known formally as the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, almost never allows visitors and is kept under famously heavy lock and key — an inaccessibility that may explain much of the intrigue around it.
One of the main early proponents of the idea that gold was missing from Fort Knox was a lawyer named Peter Beter, who earned a modicum of notoriety in the 1970s by spreading dark theories in a mail-order audio cassette series. Among other things, Mr. Beter believed that “organic robotoids,” controlled by Bolsheviks, had infiltrated the federal government.
By 1974, concerns about the gold reserves grew so intense that a congressional delegation and a few news outlets, including The New York Times, were invited to Fort Knox for a rare inspection. A reporter for The Times described the effect of seeing a vault 6 feet wide and 12 feet deep, stacked with 36,236 glistening gold bars, as “awesome.”
Another wave of concern crested in 2011, when then-Representative Ron Paul, the Texas Republican, introduced a bill calling for an inventory of the reserves. At a subcommittee hearing, Mr. Paul said people had become worried that “the gold had been secretly shipped out of Fort Knox and sold.” He added, “And, still others believe that the bars at Fort Knox are actually gold-plated tungsten.”
U.S. House of Representatives
The inspector general of the Treasury Department at the time, Eric Thorson, told Mr. Paul that audits were performed yearly, with “no exceptions of any consequence.”
U.S. House of Representatives
More recently, Mr. Trump’s first-term Treasury secretary, Steve Mnuchin, had a chance to check on the gold in August 2017, with Mitch McConnell, then the Senate majority leader, in tow. Photos were taken of the men among the gold bars.
“Glad gold is safe!” Mr. Mnuchin wrote on Twitter, now known as X.
Questions About Ft. Knox Bubble Up Again
The latest concerns appear to have taken off on Feb. 14, when the website ZeroHedge, which occasionally promotes conspiracy theories, tagged Elon Musk in a post on X. The post asked him to make sure the gold at Fort Knox is there.
“Surely it’s reviewed at least every year?” Mr. Musk replied.
“It should be. It isn’t,” ZeroHedge responded. (Mr. Bessent, the Treasury secretary, would later say that the gold is still audited annually.)
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a Republican and the son of Ron Paul, chimed in, calling for an audit. “Let’s do it.”
The next day, Alex Jones, the “InfoWars” conspiracy theorist, said on his talk show that when he was a child, his great-uncle told him some of the gold was missing, and that the “deep state” was involved in the “crime of the century.”
Mr. Musk responded to this post as well. “It would be cool to do a live video walkthrough of Fort Knox!” he wrote.
Then came Glenn Beck, the conservative radio and TV host, who posted an open letter to Mr. Trump the next day, asking if he could take a camera crew to Fort Knox to “restore faith in our financial system.”
The chatter about the gold reserves was growing louder.
By Feb. 20, Mr. Trump was telling a press gaggle on Air Force One that he planned to go to Fort Knox to “make sure the gold is there.”
How the Conspiracy Theory Has Been Integrated Into Sales Pitches for… Gold
Since then, the idea that the government’s gold reserves may have gone missing has been integrated into the sales pitches of companies that trade in gold coins and gold investment accounts. The companies advertise heavily on Trump-friendly TV and internet shows.
InfoWars, The Dan Bongino Show, The Ben Shapiro Show, Triggered with Don Jr.
A number of “gold I.R.A.” companies have suggested that a future audit of Fort Knox could determine that gold is missing, setting off a crisis among Americans about the stability of the economy. Amid such chaos, the companies argue, privately held gold would be a lucrative safe haven for investors.
One of the companies, Birch Gold Group, is endorsed by the president’s eldest son and bills itself as “Donald Trump Jr’s gold company.” A recent article on Birch Gold’s website stated that the idea of an “empty Fort Knox” had gone “from conspiracy theory to mainstream concern.” A discovery that gold was missing from Fort Knox, the article stated, would be the “quickest way down for the U.S. dollar.”
“It is only those without physical gold exposure that feel the need to panic, perhaps with good reason, about the greenback’s admittedly dismal prospects,” states the article, which is accompanied by an offer for a “FREE gold IRA info kit.”
The younger Mr. Trump lauded his father’s plans to visit Fort Knox in a Feb. 24 episode of his online talk show, on which he regularly makes pitches for Birch Gold. “If it’s empty,” he said, “I would imagine there’s hell to pay.”
On Feb. 27, Lear Capital, a gold company that Mr. Beck promotes, posted, “As calls for a Fort Knox audit grow louder, investors should stay informed and consider their exposure to gold as part of a diversified portfolio.”
On Instagram, Rogan O’Handley, a conservative influencer who goes by the handle DC Draino, posted a plug for Donald Trump Jr.’s preferred gold company.
“If Fort Knox is empty, do you know what Gold prices will do?,” Mr. O’Handley wrote. “Get a **Free** info packet from Birch Gold – LINK IN MY BIO – to learn more about @birchgold’s tax-advantaged precious metals retirement plans.”
On another section of Birch Gold’s website, a “Message from Donald Trump Jr.” raised the possibility that his father’s administration could “revalue America’s gold reserves on the national balance sheet from their outdated book value of $42” — the price per ounce the government assigns for bookkeeping purposes — “to current market prices.”
This, he wrote, “could cause a surge in gold prices.” He added, “The potential upside for gold investors is substantial.” A gold I.R.A., he added, would be a great way to benefit. He did not mention that Mr. Bessent had publicly stated that he had no plans to revalue the gold reserves.
Above the message was a digitally altered photo of the president at a desk, showing off an important-looking signed document, a wall of gold bricks behind him.
Mr. Trump has still not visited Fort Knox.
The Education Department has opened a civil rights investigation into whether Smith College, the women’s school in Northampton, Mass., violated anti-discrimination laws by allowing transgender students to enroll.
The inquiry broadens the Trump administration’s bid to limit rights for the nation’s transgender students by targeting school admissions for the first time. Until now, the administration had mostly targeted policies that allowed for transgender women to participate in women’s sports and use women’s bathrooms.
By investigating Smith, the administration is raising the question of whether allowing transgender women to enroll at a women’s college — and providing access to “women-only” spaces such as bathrooms, dormitories and locker rooms — violates civil rights protections for women.
Kimberly Richey, the assistant secretary for civil rights at the Education Department, said in a statement that “an all-women’s college loses all meaning if it is admitting biological males.”
“Allowing biological males into spaces designed for women raises serious concerns about privacy, fairness and compliance under federal law,” Ms. Richey said. “The Trump administration will continue to uphold the law and fight to restore common sense.”
The college issued a statement acknowledging the investigation and stating that it remained “fully committed to its institutional values, including compliance with civil rights laws.”
About 4.7 percent of college students identify as transgender, according to the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine, a group of doctors and scientists that has called for more government regulation of pediatric gender medicine.
The federal investigation was in response to a civil-rights complaint filed by Defending Education, a nonprofit group founded in 2021 that has become one of the leading voices in the growing parents’ rights movement. Several of the group’s complaints have sparked federal civil rights investigations during the past year, and its research is often cited during congressional hearings by conservative lawmakers.
Formerly known as Parents Defending Education, the Arlington, Va.-based group posted on its website a letter from the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights on Monday announcing the investigation into Smith.
Smith, one of the nation’s largest women’s schools with about 2,500 students, has been admitting transgender students since 2015, along with several other top women’s colleges. The issue became a lightning rod at women’s colleges after a transgender applicant was denied acceptance to Smith in 2013 because her gender identity did not match her financial aid forms.
Since then, most women’s colleges updated their admissions policies to welcome transgender applicants. One notable exception has been Sweet Briar College in central Virginia, which does not admit transgender students and helps students in transition transfer to another college.
The Trump administration resolved 30 percent fewer civil rights complaints in the nation’s schools in 2025 compared with the Biden administration in 2024, the sharpest year-over-year decline in at least three decades. But the new administration has opened more than 40 civil rights investigations into schools and other educational institutions that provide protections for transgender students.
The Education Department has taken the unusual step of backing out of civil rights agreements that previous administrations negotiated to protect transgender students. The government has also sued state education departments and high school athletic associations in California and Minnesota over policies that permit transgender athletes to participate in school sports.
Politics
Elizabeth Warren’s Bezos Met Gala jab backfires as critics mercilessly drag ‘un-American’ lawmaker
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., drew intense criticism on Monday after she claimed on X that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos should pay more in taxes in response to him sponsoring the Met Gala, with conservatives questioning the senator’s record and accusing her of misrepresenting facts.
“The answer to everything, up to and apparently including bankrupting an airline at the cost of something like 15,000 jobs and the entire concept of budget airfare, is ‘Jeff Bezos has a lot of money though,’” venture capitalist and media founder Mike Solana wrote in response to Warren’s post.
Solana was referring to the recent demise of Spirit Airlines. Conservative commentators claim Spirit could have been saved if Warren hadn’t pushed to block JetBlue’s acquisition of the budget carrier on anti-trust grounds in 2024.
“If Jeff Bezos can drop $10 million to sponsor the Met Gala, he can afford to pay his fair share in taxes,” Warren said on Monday, sparking the glut of pushback from social media users.
WASHINGTON POST ARGUES THERE’S ‘LITTLE TO GAIN BY RAISING TAXES ON THE RICH,’ RATES ALREADY HIGH ENOUGH
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., questions Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 16, 2023. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
Following news that Bezos had cut an eight-figure check to fund the Met Gala, liberals in the entertainment industry such as Mark Ruffalo and Taraji P. Henson joined Warren in criticizing Amazon and Bezos for their allegedly unethical business practices. Protesters appeared outside the gala on Monday holding signs criticizing Bezos. One demonstrator was detained for trying to break into the event.
Warren’s message backfired online, as commenters pointed to the demise of Spirit Airlines and took issue with her tax policies across the years.
“Jeff Bezos employs over 1.5 million people at Amazon,” X user Gina Milan wrote. “You’re responsible for 17,000 workers losing their jobs and for blocking the merger that ultimately killed Spirit Airlines.”
Spirit put downward pressure on prices at other airlines and its folding could lead to an increase in overall travel prices, industry analysts told USA Today. Estimated job losses stemming from Spirit’s shuttering include approximately 15,000 direct employees and an additional 2,000 indirect employees.
“This myth just won’t die,” Reason Magazine reporter Billy Binion posted, responding to Warren’s assertion that Bezos isn’t paying enough in taxes. “In 2024 alone, it’s estimated Jeff Bezos paid almost $3 billion in taxes. Painting rich people as tax avoiders plays great on social media, but it’s not reality. The U.S. has the most progressive tax system in the developed world.”
Forbes estimates that Bezos paid $2.7 billion in taxes in 2024 after he sold $13.6 billion worth of Amazon stock. He reduced his tax burden that year by donating $2.5 billion in Amazon shares to charity over the three prior years. Bezos paid nearly $1 billion in taxes between 2014 and 2018, according to a ProPublica analysis of tax documents.
To minimize tax burdens, billionaires like Bezos often take out loans secured against their massive stock holdings to acquire spending money, according to securities filings reviewed by ProPublica. Since the IRS doesn’t consider loans income, this setup gives the wealthy access to cash without having to pay income taxes.
FROM ‘JUMP ON A BUS’ TO TAX CRACKDOWNS: BLUE STATES CHASE WEALTHY RESIDENTS FLEEING TO RED HAVENS
Billionaire Jeff Bezos attends the DealBook Summit. Critics on social media have accused Bezos of allowing the Washington Post to suffer amid hundreds of staff layoffs. (Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for The New York Times)
Some on social media pushed Warren for specifics on how she plans to make Bezos pay his “fair share.”
“What’s his fair share?” Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, asked Warren. “What tax rate?”
Warren has proposed a wealth tax, charging households with net worths above $1 billion an annual tax worth 6% of their total wealth. Under Warren’s proposal, households with net worths between $50 million and $1 billion would be subject to a similar 2% tax.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaks to a staff member before the Senate Banking Committee hearing on oversight of credit reporting agencies on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on April 27, 2023. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
CALIFORNIA’S HATRED FOR CAPITALISM IS KILLING THE GOOSE THAT LAID ITS GOLDEN EGG
Much of the growth in wealth experienced by Bezos and other billionaires comes through the unrealized gains of their assets, which Warren’s tax would target.
Writer Mike Coté pointed out that Bezos is “so rich that he can simply leave the jurisdiction or get citizenship elsewhere” if Warren’s tax plans were signed into law.
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“Liz Warren does not want progressive taxation,” he continued. “She wants confiscatory taxation. It’s fundamentally un-American. And it doesn’t work.”
Warren’s office did not respond to a request for comment sent by Fox News Digital Tuesday morning.
WASHINGTON — The United States has launched a new military operation to ensure commercial shipping vessels can safely pass through the Strait of Hormuz, deploying scores of warships, fighter jets and drones to counter Iranian efforts that have threatened the narrow waterway that carries a fifth of the world’s oil.
At a news conference Tuesday at the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the new initiative — dubbed “Project Freedom” — is a temporary and defensive operation meant to resume the flow of traffic through the international waterway as hostilities have continued in the region.
“We are not looking for a fight, but Iran cannot be allowed to block innocent countries and their goods from an international waterway,” Hegseth said, while calling Iran’s tactics “international extortion.”
The operation comes nearly a month after the United States reached a fragile ceasefire deal with Iran, a truce that Hegseth said remains in effect even though Tehran has continued to attack U.S. forces and commercial vessels.
“The ceasefire is not over,” Hegseth said.
Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that since the ceasefire took effect, Iran has fired at commercial vessels nine times, seized two container ships and attacked U.S. forces more than 10 times. All of these instances, he said, are “below the threshold of restarting major combat operations at this point.”
Those attacks have left more than 1,550 vessels trapped in the Arabian Gulf, unable to transit, disrupting global trade and pushing energy markets toward crisis, with fuel prices climbing and shipping costs surging.
The new U.S. mission was cast as separate from the broader military campaign over Iran’s nuclear weapons program. As negotiations to denuclearize Iran continue, Caine said commercial vessels wanting to cross the strait will now “see, hear and frankly feel the U.S. combat power around them, on the sea, in the skies and on the radio.”
Two U.S. commercial vessels, escorted by Navy destroyers, have already moved through the Strait, Hegseth said.
“We know the Iranians are embarrassed by this fact,” Hegseth said. “They said they control the strait, they do not.”
Hegseth called the operation a “direct gift from the United States to the world,” aimed at resuming traffic through one of the world’s most vital waterways.
“To what remains of Iran’s forces: if you attack American troops or innocent commercial shipping, you will face overwhelming and devastating American firepower,” Hegseth said. “The president has been very clear about this.”
On Tuesday evening local time, the UAE’s defense ministry said in a statement on X that the country’s defensive systems “are actively engaging with missiles and UAV threats and that “sounds heard across the across the country are the result of ongoing engaging operations.”
Tuesday’s barrage marks the second consecutive day of attacks targeting the UAE since the U.S.-Iran ceasefire took hold on April 8. On Monday, the UAE said it engaged a total of 12 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and four drones launched from Iran.
For its part, Iran said it had no “pre-planned program” to attack the UAE’s oil facilities, but that attacks were prompted by the United States’ plans to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, according to an unnamed military official quoted by Iranian State TV.
“What happened was the product of the U.S. military’s adventurism to create a passage for ships to illegally pass through” the Strait, the official said, adding the U.S. military “must be held accountable for it.”
Ceballos reported from Washington, Bulos from Beirut.
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