In a Tuesday X post, the U.S. Department of State revealed that “limited-edition U.S. passports to commemorate the 250th anniversary of American independence,” are coming soon. It also unveiled a sneak peek of the passport that included an image of President Donald Trump.
According to a report on these limited-edition passports from The Bulwark, the state department was “close to finalizing” designs on Tuesday. It described the project as a “radical redesign” of the typical U.S. passport.
Trump’s administration has made various plans for the nation’s 250th anniversary, including proposed $1 coins, also featuring Trump’s image. Based on the images shared by the state department, Trump’s image on the passports will be superimposed over the Declaration of Independence. The Bulwark said the portrait used is Trump’s second inaugural portrait.
“A more traditional patriotic image – a detail from the John Trumbull painting Declaration of Independence – is reserved for the back cover,” said the outlet. It also said a government official who provided photographs of the redesign informed The Bulwark that State Department is planning a “limited run” of 25,000 Trump-emblazoned passports.
“A State Department spokesperson asked us for deadline extension as they were “looking into” the inquiry,” said The Bulwark. “We gave them an additional two hours. In that time, Fox News published an “exclusive” on the new passport design. A White House spokesperson then sent us an email response confirming the new design ‘on background’ with a link to the Fox News story.”
Fox News Digital’s report said the limited run passports are set to be released this summer to coincide with the Trump administration’s America250 celebration, including a UFC fight on the White House lawn.
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott told Fox News Digital that the limited run passports will have the “same security features that make the U.S. Passport the most secure documents in the world.” In addition to Trump’s image, other alterations include an enlargement of the words “United States of America” enlarged and “placed at the top of the passport, above the crest,” Fox News Digital said. It added that the back cover will feature an American flag with “250” centered between the 13 stars featured on the 1777 version of the flag.
As for who will get these passports, a State Department official told Fox News Digital that they will be available for “any American citizen” who applies for a passport when the rollout happens and will continue for as long as there is availability. However, they will only be available at the Washington Passport Agency, the official said.
U.S. passports got their latest redesign in 2021. That design features a depiction of Francis Scott Key observing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry in 1814 on the inside cover and an image of the Earth, the moon, and the Voyager spacecraft on the back inside cover.
Edward Kolla – a professor at Georgetown University and an expert on the history of passports cited by The Bulwark – said the decision to include the image of the president on the passport is “wacky,” according to the outlet. He said that not only has no modern U.S. passport featured the image of a sitting president, no foreign passport has featured “the head of state of any country” either. Generally, U.S. passports are used in the name of the secretary of state.
Per The Bulwark, the potential redesign comes also comes as Trump has “aggressively pushed for the Save America Act, which would require proof of citizenship – including a passport – before voters could cast a ballot.”
