Former die-hard MAGA supporter begs for forgiveness from a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein for supporting Trump

A former die-hard supporter of President Donald Trump who attended 42 of his rallies and once sold her belongings to follow his campaign has publicly begged for forgiveness from a survivor of Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse, in an emotional encounter captured by CNN.

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Trisha Hope of Houston, Texas, described herself as a “really hardcore Trump supporter” until last year. Her break with the movement came during a July 8, 2025, Cabinet meeting when Trump was asked about a missing minute in the jailhouse surveillance footage from the night Epstein died in 2019. Trump responded dismissively, “Are you still talking about Jeffrey Epstein?”

Hope said she was watching from a parking lot before a funeral when the exchange hit her. “I swear to you, a light went off. The shades lifted, and I saw him in a completely different way,” she told CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan. “And I’ve not been able to unsee it.” She added that she had believed Trump cared about the issue, but “it didn’t seem that he did.”

The turning point led her to examine other aspects of Trump’s record more critically. “I started looking at everything critically,” she said, describing what she called “a lot of lies, a lot of deception.” Hope and her husband had previously given up much of their ordinary lives for the MAGA movement, selling their possessions and traveling the country in an RV to attend rallies—sometimes two in one day.

While visiting a traveling installation called the Donald J. Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Memorial Reading Room—which displays a timeline of events and documents from files released by the Department of Justice—Hope met Epstein survivor and activist Dani Bensky. Bensky has said she was abused by Epstein starting at age 17 after being sent, as an aspiring ballerina, to his New York City townhouse as a masseuse; the abuse continued for more than a year.

In a tearful exchange filled with hugs, Hope apologized directly. “I was a Trump supporter for a long time and, you know, I mean, really hardcore Trump supporter, 42 rallies. And I am so sorry for any pain,” she said. She also told CNN, “Sick. I feel sick,” upon reviewing materials including a birthday card Trump had written to Epstein. “I put my life on hold to support this man. I clearly didn’t understand who he was. I also feel a little ashamed that I didn’t do more to discover more about him. I should have looked harder.”

Hope further said, “[I’m] so sorry. I can’t imagine. There are people who care. A lot of people who care. They may just be learning, but they care,” and later, “I am sorry we didn’t see you. … And I won’t make that mistake again.”

Bensky responded gratefully. “It means a lot,” she said. “I’m so grateful that you took in that moment and were able to really see it for what it is.”

Hope told CNN she still supports many of Trump’s policies and continues to believe the 2020 election was stolen, though she has acknowledged she could be wrong. She described herself as now “politically homeless” and said she remains “in this fight.”

The encounter appears in CNN reporting connected to a longer documentary, “Maga Ever After?,” scheduled to air on The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper. It reflects broader tensions within parts of Trump’s base over his administration’s handling of Epstein-related materials after campaign promises to address the files, which Congress later ordered released.