USA: Trump says he 'shouldn't be' impeached

*BUG AT SOURCE*
W/S US President Donald Trump arriving for press conference, Washington DC
*UPSOUND* Journalist: "Mr. President, what do you say to the Democrats who say you were witness tampering this morning when you made that tweet?"
SOT, Donald Trump, US President: "You don't want to talk about transparency? You know, I'll talk about transparency, I like transparency here and I'm the most transparent president in history. And I'll tell you about what tampering is. Tampering is when a guy like 'Shifty Schiff' (Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence chairman), doesn't let us have lawyers. Tampering is when Schiff doesn't let us have witnesses, doesn't let us speak. I've been watching today for the first time, I started watching. And it's really sad when you see people not allowed to ask questions. Nobody has ever had such a horrible due process, there was no due process, and I think it's considered a joke all over Washington and all over the world. The Republicans are given no due process whatsoever, we're not allowed to do anything, it's a disgrace what's happening, but you know what? The American public understands it, and that's why the poll numbers are so good and that's why other things are so good. What they are doing in Washington with that hearing - and by the way it's a political process, it's not a legal process - so if I have somebody saying 'I'm allowed to speak up', if somebody says about me, we're not allowed to have any kind of representation, we're not allowed to have almost anything, and nobody has seen anything like it, in the history of our country there has never been a disgrace like what's going on right now, so you know what? I have the right to speak, I have freedom of speech just as other people do, but they've taken away the Republicans' rights. And I watched today as certain very talented people who wanted to ask questions and they weren't even allowed to ask questions. Republicans. They were not allowed to ask questions. It's a very sad thing." *JUMPCUT AT SOURCE*
*UPSOUND* Journalist: "Mr President, do you think you're going to get impeached?"
SOT, Donald Trump, US President: "Well, I shouldn't be, in fact I thought last night it ended. Because last night I was in Louisiana, where we're going to hopefully elect a great governor, Republican governor, and I was getting off the plane and they handed me a statement that was just made by the Foreign Minister and President of the Ukraine. And Ukraine, they came out loud and clear that there was not linkage whatsoever, not even a little bit. And you saw it, you all saw it. I said 'oh, well that ends the impeachment', and you people don't even report it. Look, the press is unbelievably dishonest. That was a major statement put out last night by the Foreign Minister of Ukraine and also by the President of Ukraine, and you don't even report it. It's a disgrace. Because it said there was absolutely not linkage, we had a perfect conversation, and I also, because of transparency - whether it's medical transparency or just transparency generally - I also put out today a statement. And in the statement we released, and then Congressman Nunes read a call that I had with the President of Ukraine - and it was a great call, it was a very nice call. Everybody said it was perfect, I always say it was equally as good as the other call. And I put it out today and nobody even wants to report it because it was so good they don't want to report it. Look, if we had an honest press in this country, we would be so well served. And you know what? When I look at your approval numbers, they are the worst that have ever been in the history of our country. The media, the approval numbers, they are horrible. And you ought to get yourself back, and you ought to put yourself back in a position where people respect the media again. And I know some great journalists, I know some great people in the media, but there aren't enough of them, there's a lot of dishonesty, and many of you I just consider members of the Democrats, and that's a shame." *JUMPCUT AT SOURCE*
SOT, Donald Trump, US President: "I just want to have a total, I want freedom of speech, that's a political process, the Republicans have been treated very badly, and I watched a little bit of it today. I wasn't able to yesterday because we had the President of Turkey here and I wasn't able to watch much. I watched some of it this morning, I thought it was a disgrace. When we have great Republican representatives, people elected by the people, and they are not allowed to even ask a question, they are not allowed to make a statement, we're not allowed to have witnesses, we're not allowed to have legal counsel, White House counsel, it's a disgrace and it's an embarrassment to our nation."
SCRIPT
US President Donald Trump stated that he "shouldn't be" impeached, speaking during a press conference in Washington DC on Friday, before slamming the press for not being "honest."
Trump also responded to witness tampering accusations, referring to a tweet in which he attacked former ambassador to Ukraine Marie Yovanovitch who testified on Capitol Hill during impeachment hearings.
"Tampering is when a guy like 'Shifty Schiff' (Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, US House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence chairman), doesn't let us have lawyers. Tampering is when Schiff doesn't let us have witnesses, doesn't let us speak," he replied.
"Nobody has ever had such a horrible due process, there was no due process, and I think it's considered a joke all over Washington and all over the world. The Republicans are given no due process or whatsoever, we're not allowed to do anything, it's a disgrace what's happening," he added.
Yovanovitch served as the US's ambassador to Ukraine until she was abruptly removed from her post in May.
Open hearings of the impeachment inquiry against Trump are scheduled to continue next week with several other witnesses. The president is alleged to have asked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to find damaging information on the business dealings of Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden, during the call. Hunter Biden was on the board of a Ukrainian gas company between 2014 and 2019.