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[–><!–>Mr. Trump’s interest in the gold reserves has been largely overshadowed by his family’s involvement in variouscryptocurrency ventures, which has raised ethical concerns about potential conflicts of interest.–><!–>
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[–><!–>The president has a long history ofembracing 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.–><!–>
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[–><!–>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 hasrisen to record prices recently, in part because of the global economic uncertainty that the president’s shifting tariff policiescaused.–><!–>
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–>The Gold Conspiracy That Wouldn’t Go Away<!–>
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[–><!–>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.–><!–>
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[–><!–>“Glad gold is safe!” Mr. Mnuchinwrote on Twitter, now known as X.–><!–>
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–>Questions About Ft. Knox Bubble Up Again<!–>
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[–><!–>The latest concerns appear to have taken off on Feb. 14, when the website ZeroHedge, which occasionallypromotes conspiracy theories, tagged Elon Musk in a post on X. The post asked him to make sure the gold at Fort Knox is there.–><!–>
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[–><!–>“It should be. It isn’t,” ZeroHedge responded. (Mr. Bessent, the Treasury secretary, wouldlater say that the gold is still audited annually.)–><!–>
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–>How the Conspiracy Theory Has Been Integrated Into Sales Pitches for… Gold<!–>
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–>InfoWars, The Dan Bongino Show, The Ben Shapiro Show, Triggered with Don Jr.<!–>
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[–><!–>One of the companies, Birch Gold Group, is endorsed by the president’s eldest son andbills 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.”–><!–>
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[–><!–>The younger Mr. Trumplauded his father’s plans to visit Fort Knox in a Feb. 24 episode of his onlinetalk show, on which he regularly makes pitches for Birch Gold. “If it’s empty,” he said, “I would imagine there’s hell to pay.”–><!–>
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–>Lear Capital<!–>
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[–><!–>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 governmentassigns for bookkeeping purposes — “to current market prices.”–><!–>
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[–><!–>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 hadpublicly stated that he had no plans to revalue the gold reserves.–><!–>
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