United States President Donald Trump has unveiled a new commemorative US passport carrying his image as part of activities marking America’s 250th anniversary according to CNN.
The president shared a sample page of the passport showing his image positioned above the Resolute Desk, with the original Declaration of Independence displayed in the background and his signature at the bottom. An illustration of John Trumbull’s famous painting, “The Declaration of Independence,” appears on the facing page.
The design appears to be based on Trump’s portrait at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery in Washington. It differs from earlier passport renderings released by the State Department this year, which used a different image of the president.
Later on Friday, the White House shared the same passport image on its X account, describing it as a “New U.S. Passport to Commemorate America’s 250th.”
Questions about whether the image represented the final official design were referred by the White House to the State Department.
The commemorative passport was first announced in April as part of celebrations for the country’s 250th anniversary. Officials described it as a special limited-edition passport featuring customised artwork and enhanced images on its covers and interior pages.
Speaking to CNN at the time, an official said that the passport “will be the default passport out of the Washington Passport Agency when available” for those who renew their passports in person at that location.
“Online options or other locations will maintain existing passport design,” the official said.
At present, the inside front cover of US passports carries Percy Moran’s painting depicting Francis Scott Key after the bombardment of Fort McHenry, the battle that inspired the writing of what later became the US national anthem. Excerpts from the anthem are also printed on the page