US to issue limited commemorative passports with Trump’s picture for America's 250th birthday

The State Department said on Tuesday that it is preparing a limited release of commemorative US passports celebrating America’s 250th birthday that feature a picture of President Donald Trump, who would be the first living president to be featured in the travel document.

The concept for the special passport, including a rendering of Trump’s stern-looking visage, had been under consideration for months before finally being approved late Monday. The passports will be available at first only to applicants at the Washington, D.C., passport office and only on request. Applicants who do not want the commemorative passport will be able to chose a standard one, officials said.

"As the United States celebrates America’s 250th anniversary in July, the State Department is preparing to release a limited number of specially designed US passports to commemorate this historic occasion,” State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said. "These passports will feature customised artwork and enhanced imagery while maintaining the same security features that make the U.S. passport the most secure documents in the world.”

With the exception of the addition of Trump’s picture to an interior page of the passport book, there will be few other changes other than the cover, which will feature the "United States of America” in bold gold print at the top and "Passport” at the bottom – a reversal of the standard cover. In addition, a small gold laminate American flag, with the number 250 encircled by stars, will be at the bottom of the back cover.

The Bulwark reported earlier on the commemorative passports.

The only presidents featured in current US passports are in a double-page depiction of Mount Rushmore in South Dakota – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln.

Other depictions include the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and scenes of the Great Plains, mountains and islands. Current passports also contain quotations from Martin Luther King Jr. as well as Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Dwight Eisenhower.

Associated Press