The State Department announced Thursday that it is significantly increasing public access to the commemorative U.S. passport featuring President Donald Trump, citing exceptionally strong demand for the special-edition travel document.

According to the department, an additional 250,000 copies of the “Patriot Passport” will be produced after public interest far exceeded expectations. Officials said the expansion comes “in response to overwhelming demand” from Americans eager to obtain the commemorative passport.

Until now, the special passport had only been available through the State Department’s passport office in Washington, D.C. Beginning immediately, however, Americans can schedule appointments by phone to obtain one at any of the department’s 24 additional passport offices nationwide.

The commemorative passport was first introduced in April as part of the nation’s preparations for its 250th anniversary. Among its distinctive features is a page displaying Trump’s inaugural portrait alongside the text of the Declaration of Independence. Another page showcases an artistic rendering of the Founding Fathers signing the historic document.

Several passport agencies—including those in Centennial, Colorado; Chicago; Dallas; Detroit; Minneapolis; New Orleans; and Stamford, Connecticut—will distribute the commemorative passport during special application events on Aug. 8. Additional passport offices are expected to begin offering it in the weeks that follow.

“Since its release in celebration of 250 years of American independence, the commemorative passport has generated extraordinary public interest,” the State Department noted in its Thursday release. “The Department of State is responding by expanding access so Americans across the country can obtain this unique and special document.”

Trump is the first sitting president ever to appear on an American passport. The document also features illustrations of Mount Rushmore, home to the carved likenesses of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt.

In addition to the new imagery, the passport contains quotations from several past presidents, including Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, and Lyndon B. Johnson.

The commemorative passport is the latest in a series of government initiatives over the past year and a half that have incorporated Trump’s name or likeness. Those efforts have included changes involving both the U.S. Institute for Peace and the Kennedy Center, although Trump’s name was removed from the Kennedy Center building in June following a federal court order.

Later this fall, the U.S. Mint is also expected to issue a special $1 gold coin bearing Trump’s portrait as part of the nation’s semiquincentennial celebration.

{Matzav.com}