The week featured a failed indictment, the Stonewall Pride flag removal, and a new coal funding order.
Dante Belcher
Feb 13, 2026
Trump’s 56th week brought updates to LGBTQ+ rights, failed indictments, immigration and executive orders. Following previous reports from The Introspective detailing the Pentagon investigating Sen. Mark Kelly after the lawmaker joined a video featuring Sen. Elissa Slotkin and Reps. Jason Crow, Chrissy Houlahan, Maggie Goodlander and Chris Deluzio urging troops and intelligence personnel to refuse “illegal orders,” a federal grand jury did not indict the lawmakers after backlash from the Trump administration.
At the same time, the administration removed a Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City—a monument that commemorates the 1969 Stonewall riots, an event widely regarded as the catalyst for the modern LGBTQ+ rights movement. The administration later canceled $600 million in Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funding for programs aimed at HIV and STD prevention.
As anti-immigrant sentiment continues, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) disclosed tax data to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) nearly a year after DHS requested IRS data on 700,000 undocumented immigrants. Meanwhile, Trump signed an executive order directing the Pentagon to buy electricity generated by coal, raising implications over the use of fossil fuels.
Grand Jury and Stonewall
Following previous reports from The Introspective detailing the Pentagon investigating Sen. Mark Kelly after the lawmaker joined a video featuring Sen. Elissa Slotkin and Reps. Jason Crow, Chrissy Houlahan, Maggie Goodlander and Chris Deluzio urging troops and intelligence personnel to refuse “illegal orders,” a federal grand jury did not indict the lawmakers after backlash from the Trump administration.
“It wasn’t enough for Pete Hegseth to censure me and threaten to demote me. Now it appears they tried to have me charged with a crime — all because of something I said that they didn’t like. That’s not the way things work in America,” Kelly said in a statement obtained by The Introspective, calling the indictment attempt “an outrageous abuse of power.”
In a post on X, Slotkin criticized the Trump administration, accusing the president of “weaponizing our justice system against his perceived enemies.”
“Today, it was a grand jury of anonymous American citizens who upheld the rule of law and determined this case should not proceed. Hopefully, this ends this politicized investigation for good,” she wrote.
In a statement obtained by The Introspective, Crow said Americans “should be appalled by the fact that Donald Trump and his goons at Department of Justice and everywhere else are weaponizing their justice system just to try to silence dissent and to crush political opponents.”
“Not only should Americans be angry at that—they have chosen the wrong people. If these fuckers think that they’re going to intimidate us and threaten and bully me into silence, and they’re going to go after political opponents and get us to back down, they have another thing coming,” he said.
At the same time, the Trump administration removed a Pride flag from the Stonewall National Monument in New York City, raising implications as backlash to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) continues.
“They cannot erase our history. Our Pride flag will be raised again,” wrote Manhattan Borough President Brad Hoylman-Sigal, who is gay, on Instagram.
This comes following a memo from the Interior Department—responsible for the National Park Service—issuing “guidance to superintendents and site managers on policies and procedures for the display and flying of non-agency flags and pennants,” stating only U.S. flags, agency flags and flags that “provide historical context” are allowed.
“Flagpoles at buildings under the jurisdiction, custody or control of the GSA are not intended to serve as a forum for free expression by the public,” the memo read, referring to the General Services Administration.
“Rather, approved non-agency flags and pennants may be flown as an expression of the federal government’s official sentiments.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called the move “outrageous” in a statement.
“The removal of the Pride Rainbow Flag from the Stonewall National Monument is a deeply outrageous action that must be reversed right now,” he said.
“If there’s one thing I know about this latest attempt to rewrite history, stoke division and discrimination, and erase our community pride, it’s this: that flag will return. New Yorkers will see to it.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration canceled $600 million in CDC funding for programs aimed at HIV and STD prevention, with a DHS spokesperson telling ABC News that the cuts will impact public health funding in California, Colorado, Illinois and Minnesota because “they do not reflect agency priorities.”
“Getting people to engage in prevention work is some of the hardest work we do, but it is so meaningful, and we are on the precipice of truly transforming the way that prevention has happened,” said Matthew Rose, senior public policy advocate at Human Rights Campaign—an LGBTQ+ advocacy group—in the report.
“So we’ve done it in all the ways we’ve asked for. We created new technologies, we’ve done programmatic working efforts, we’ve drilled down into those most effective programming, and then they’re like, ‘No, let’s pull up all the roots.’”
He later said researchers could look for alternative funding, but it would not be enough to fill the gap left by the federal government.
“You’re looking at HIV funding in the United States, you’re looking at billions of dollars getting spent on HIV,” he said.
“None of the other HIV organizations and private companies have that kind of money to put into that kind of space.…Even if the private institutions do what they can, they can’t make up for that gap that we worked so hard for that federal money to do.”
Immigration and Executive Orders
The IRS shared confidential tax information with the Department of Homeland Security nearly a year after DHS requested IRS data on 700,000 undocumented immigrants.
In a statement obtained by The Introspective, a DHS spokesperson said that “the government is finally doing what it should have all along” under the data-sharing agreement.
“Information sharing across agencies is essential to identify who is in our country, including violent criminals, determine what public safety and terror threats may exist so we can neutralize them, scrub these individuals from voter rolls, and identify what public benefits these aliens are using at taxpayer expense,” the spokesperson said.
“With the IRS information specifically, DHS plans to focus on enforcing long-neglected criminal laws that apply to illegal aliens.”
This comes after U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly criticized the administration in a November ruling.
“This allegedly unauthorized viewing involves personal information that taxpayers provided to the IRS pursuant to a promise that the IRS would prioritize keeping the information confidential,” she wrote.
“A reasonable taxpayer would likely find it highly offensive to discover that the IRS now intends to share that information permissively because it has replaced its promise of confidentiality with a policy of disclosure.”
Meanwhile, Trump signed an executive order, Strengthening United States National Defense With America’s Beautiful Clean Coal Power Generation Fleet, directing the Pentagon to buy electricity generated by coal.
“Given our nation’s vast coal resources and the proven reliability of our coal-fired generation fleet in providing continuous, on-demand baseload power, it is imperative that the Department of War prioritize the preservation and strategic utilization of coal-based energy assets,” the executive order read.
“Coal generation ensures that military installations, command centers and defense-industrial bases remain fully powered under all conditions—including natural disasters or wartime contingencies.”
During a White House event attended by coal industry executives and miners, Trump emphasized coal’s usage.
“You do so much,” he said.
“You heat our homes, fuel our factories, and turn natural resources into American riches and dreams.”
He later announced that the Department of Energy would invest $175 million to upgrade coal plants in North Carolina, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia.
“The most important people here today are those who get their hands a little bit dirty to keep America running at full speed—our front-line coal workers.”
The Introspective 
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