The U.S. State Department said it is preparing a limited release of commemorative U.S. passports for the country’s 250th birthday that will feature President Donald Trump’s picture, with availability at the Washington, D.C., passport office beginning shortly before July 4. State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said the plan had been under consideration for months before being approved late Monday.
The department said the special passports would use customized artwork and enhanced imagery, while maintaining the same security features used in U.S. passports. Pigott said the passports’ release is tied to the July anniversary and would be limited in number. The department said that between 25,000 and 30,000 of the new passports would be available to applicants at the Washington office.
Pigott said the commemorative passport will be the default document for people applying in person at the Washington office, while applicants who want a standard passport would be able to get one by applying online or outside Washington. The department said the passports would feature Trump’s picture over a gold imprimatur of his signature on an interior page, and that the cover design would reverse the standard layout, using “United States of America” in bold gold at the top and “Passport” at the bottom.
The department also said a small gold laminate American flag would appear at the bottom of the back cover, with the number 250 encircled by stars. It also said those commemorative passports would be prepared for release as the country marks America’s 250th anniversary.
The report said it would be the first time a living president has been featured on a U.S. travel document. The only presidents pictured in current U.S. passports are in a double-page depiction of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. Other passport depictions include the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, as well as scenes of the Great Plains, mountains and islands.
The report said current passports also contain quotations from Martin Luther King Jr. and include presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Dwight D. Eisenhower. It described the commemorative passport as part of a broader pattern of Trump having his name and likeness added to buildings, documents and other highly visible tributes, including plans described by his aides for a new White House ballroom and a 250-foot arch at an entrance to Washington from Virginia.
It also cited earlier reporting that Trump’s aides have sought to put his signature on U.S. paper currency and to include his image on a gold commemorative coin for the country’s founding. MSI previously reported that Treasury plans to put Trump’s signature on new U.S. paper currency.