What witnesses—including Mitch McConnell—have said about inside of Fort Knox as Trump, Musk seek entry

As President Donald Trump and Elon Musk have been vying to get access and see if the gold is still at Fort Knox, there has been one United States lawmaker who has been able to go inside since there was a trip taken by journalists to see the vault of gold in 1974.

In 2017, Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) was able to go inside and see the gold in the vault, when the 147.3 million ounces of precious metals were valued at $186 billion, according to the Daily Mail.

"It just kind of came up as a result of a casual conversation. It’s not even the annual funding level for some of our large departments in the federal government," McConnell said at the time as he took got to take a peek at the vault with then-Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin.

At the time, Mnuchin, a Hollywood movie producer, said, "I assume the gold is still there. It would really be quite a movie if we walked in and there was no gold." As of late, Musk as well as Trump have both questioned how much gold is still in Fort Knox.

"We're actually going to Fort Knox to see if the gold is there, because maybe somebody stole the gold. Tons of gold," Trump said.

During a recent interview on the Joe Rogan Experience, Musk told the podcaster, "A live tour of Fort Knox would be awesome … is the gold there or not? They say it is -- is it real? Or did somebody spray paint some lead?"

Some lawmakers have not been as fortunate as McConnell to get a look inside the vault. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) said that he has repeatedly asked to go in, only to be stopped by the US Mint.

Other senators also gave their thoughts on trying to get into the facility to see the vault and find out if all the gold is still there. "I assume the gold is there, but it's certainly reasonable for people to check. It'd be interesting," Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) told reporters.

"Well, I guess they could find out pretty easy," Senator Mike Rounds said of trying to check if the gold is still there. One of the journalists who did see the inside of the vault in 1974 was Dave Ganz. That year there were rumors that some of the gold had been taken out of Fort Knox, so 120 reporters were granted access in order to inform the public of its presence.

In a 2009 report about his experience, Ganz said that the facility was made of "16,000 cubic feet of granite, 4,200 cubic yards of concrete, 750 tons of reinforcing steel, and 670 tons of structural steel."

Ganz said that the vault that he toured was around the same size as a "comfortable four room apartment." One lawmaker that was in congress at the time told Ganz, "Personally, I’m convinced that only a conspiracy or a military invasion could get the gold out of here."

When it was opened up in 1974, there were a number of security measures, including aircraft in the air above “all the time.” Vault doors were sealed with wax to ensure that no gold could get out without signs of tampering.  

“Conclusion was that the tunnel – which opens inside the depository building, but outside the vault proper – was not a viable means for anyone to try to remove substantial quantities of gold,” Ganz wrote.