Nick Rekieta, a controversial YouTube lawyer, was among the guests invited to a State Department reception hosted by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on 2 July 2026 to launch a limited-edition US passport marking America's 250th birthday. The event matters because the commemorative document is notable in its own right — only 25,000 are being issued nationwide, each carrying Donald Trump's picture and signature, making him the first living president to appear in a US passport — and because Rekieta's attendance is striking given that his home was raided by police in a 2024 drugs case.

Rekieta, 44, said he and his family were personally invited by an unnamed State Department contact who was a fan of his channel, and that he had disclosed his drug case beforehand and was told it would not be an issue, though a background check was still run on adult attendees. He, his wife Kayla and their five children each received one of the passports. Rekieta first rose to prominence covering Johnny Depp's defamation trial against Amber Heard, and more recently has livestreamed pretrial hearings in the Charlie Kirk murder case and defended ICE agents over fatal Minneapolis shootings. At the event he mingled with figures from the online right, including posing for a photo with conservative activist Jack Posobiec.