Laura Ingraham is an open supporter of President Donald Trump but said her new Fox News show may "irk" the White House's famously combative occupant.
In an interview with the New York Times published Wednesday, the conservative commentator previewed her 10 p.m. ET program, "The Ingraham Angle," as one she hopes will represent "the working-class, populist sensibility that is the beating heart of the Republican Party right now."
A longtime friend of Trump's who shares his nationalist politics and disdain for open borders, Ingraham said she and the president talk several times a month on the phone. Unlike Sean Hannity, whose show at 9 p.m. ET is 100 percent supportive of the White House, Ingraham is willing to be critical of Trump at times.
"You know, he'll probably, uh, be irked," Ingraham said of her show. "We are friends, but friends tell friends when they go off course. And I'm sure he'll tell me when he thinks I'm deviating from what's proper and thoughtful. And I'll do the same with him."
Among her criticisms of the president include the "snail's pace" of staff appointments and Trump "stepping on his own message at times."
Asked by the Times if she was bringing a Breitbart viewership to Fox, she responded, "I wouldn't call it a Breitbart audience. I would call it America."
Ingraham is a longtime Fox News contributor who hosts a nationally syndicated radio program, "The Laura Ingraham Show." She is also editor in chief of the conservative news and opinion site Lifezette. An early endorser of Trump's presidential campaign, she spoke at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
"The Ingraham Angle" debuts on Monday as part of the revamped Fox News primetime lineup. Veteran anchor Shannon Bream will follow her with a live 11 p.m. program called "Fox News @ Night."