President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden leads Trump by 36 points nationally among Latinos: poll Trump dismisses climate change role in fires, says Newsom needs to manage forest better Jimmy Kimmel hits Trump for rallies while hosting Emmy Awards MORE may "find more of his inner Democrat" if Democrats take control of the House in this year's midterm elections, longtime Trump confidant Christopher Ruddy says in a new interview.

Ruddy, the CEO of right-leaning news site Newsmax and a friend of Trump's for 20 years, told the Financial Times in an interview published Friday that he sees the president working more with Democrats in the months to come.

"People think [Trump] is ideologically rigid, but he's really not. He was a Democrat until quite recently," Ruddy said. "There's a lot he agrees with them about."

"If the Democrats win the House, Trump might find more of his inner Democrat," Ruddy said.

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Ruddy said Trump has become more pragmatic since taking office, predicting the president will make a deal involving immigrants brought to the country illegally as children after taking a hard-line stance on illegal immigration during his 2016 campaign.

The Newsmax CEO also criticized comments from John Kelly John Francis KellyMORE after the White House chief of staff referred to some immigrants as "lazy."

“These people aren’t lazy. They work 10 hours a day at $5 an hour to feed their families," he told the Financial Times.

Trump, who was a registered Democrat from 2001 to 2009, gave lawmakers a March 5 deadline to pass legislation protecting young immigrants affected by his decision to end the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

The White House had proposed passing a solution for DACA in exchange for providing $25 billion for border security, tougher enforcement and new limits on legal immigration. The Senate rejected legislation based on Trump's plan last month.

Trump has signaled his openness to working with Democrats on some issues, including gun legislation. This week, Trump stunned GOP lawmakers by voicing his support for a series of Democratic-backed gun control proposals, including raising the age for buying firearms and confiscating guns from people deemed dangerous.

Democrats are hoping to take back the House in 2018 to break the Republican Party's control of the levers of power in Washington, but will need to flip 24 seats to do so.

Many are viewing the midterms as a referendum on Trump, as states where Trump won are now seeing Democratic campaigns gaining momentum.