Baseball. Announcer from abc news, this week with George Stephanopoulos begins now. Good morning. Its an image sparking hope and fear for many americans. Christian missionary and ebola patient dr. Kent brantley back in the u. S. Walking into Emory University hospital saturday. Then reuniting with his wife through a glass wall. Bazi kanani starts us off. With the latest on this extraordinary operation to bring bra brantly home. Reporter dr. Kent brantly arriving saturday, the first ebola patient on u. S. Soil, whisked through atlanta by balance. Then, thats him on the right in a full bio suit, walking, with assistance, into a special Isolation Unit at Emory University. A 5,000mile journey from liberia on a jet modified with a tent to prevent contact with bodily fluids, which is how the disease is spread. Officials say theyre confident his treatment and that of his colleague, nancy, who will arrive in a few days wont put the public at risk. We do not believe any health care worker, any other patient, any visitor to our facility is in any way at risk of acquiring this infection. Reporter meanwhile, the biggest outbreak of ebola in history already called out of control by aid groups in liberia, guinea, and sierra leo leone, is getting worse. More than 700 dead so far. Governments reacting with drastic new measures. Soldiers on the streets. Disinfectants sprayed in public places. And schools closed. What is the situation there on the ground in liberia . The situation is dire. Our Health Care Capabilities and capacities are truly overstretched and overtaxed. Reporter here, protesters wait for bodies to be removed. And standoff when six people here refuse to be taken to a Treatment Center for ebola. In the u. S. , 20 quarantine stations are ready. In case infected travelers arrive. And caution in washington, where participants arriving from the affected countries for the u. S. Africa summit will be screened. Authorities on alert should another case of ebola turn up unexpectedly. For this week bazi kanani. Abc news, washington. Joining us, from the cdc, dr. Tom frieden. And our own dr. Richard besser. Also a veteran of the cdc. Rich, let me begin with you. Youve been in that isolation chamber. Tell us more about it and what the prognosis is for dr. Brantly right now. He was supposedly very ill in africa. Seeing him walk out of that ambulance is a positive sign. Ive spoken to one of the doctors that is on the team taking care of him. Two Infectious Disease specialists, two highly trained nurses. Theyll wear that same protective gear that we have been seeing. Theyll be able to monitor him much closer. Give him fluids, blood transfusions, the kind of care not available in liberia. And lots of worry here. Are we taking an unnecessary risk . I want to show a tweet from donald trump. He says the u. S. Must immediately stop all flights from ebolainfected countries or the plague will start and spread inside our borders. Act fast. How do you respond to that . Ebola is scary. We understand people being afraid. The plain truth is, we can stop ebola. We know how to control it. Hospital Infection Control and stopping it at the source in africa. You know, were not going to hermetically seal the borders of the u. S. Were reliant on the world were travel, trade, economy, communities, families. The single most important thing we can do to protect americans is to stop this disease at the source in africa. Dr. Frieden, is it safe to send cdc workers into africa . Were surging our response. And were going to put 50 staff on the ground in these three countries to help stop the outbreak in the next 30 days. And we put safety first. Staff have experienced hostility from groups so upset. We immediately withdraw them. And we make sure that if were taking care of patients with ebola, we have the proper gear so we keep the risk to an absolute minimum. Theres a concern that the world is responding effectively right now. Yeah, i mean, theres a big concern. The World Health Organization put out a plan that 100 million are needed to control this. Ive talked to Public Health experts who say that is a gross underestimate of what that will take. Public health traditionally lowballs the figure. Theres two reasons. Theres a humanitarian reason for stopping this in west africa. But the conversation shows we have a selfinterest in doing that. And the conversation really has to look at what will it take to beef up the Health System to control this where it is . What about, dr. Frieden, a vaccine . The nih is planning human trials in september. Is there promise there . What is the block to getting it out quickly . We would love a vaccine. It would be very helpful, especially to protect health care workers. In the best case, its a long way away. Its uncertain. What is certain, we know how to stop ebola now. The tried and true Public Health mechanisms work. You find the patient. Isolate them. You find out who their contacts were. You trace the contacts. You track them every day for 21 days. If they get fever, you start that process again. You make sure theres good Infection Control. And you educate the community in africa about safe burial practices. When you do those simple things, ebola stops, as every previous Ebola Outbreak has been stopped. Right now, its out of control in west africa. It may well spread further in that region. What we can do and what were doing is surging our response to put out the embers. Ebola is like a forest fire. If you leave one ember burning, it can flare up again. Thats why its so important that we control it. Finally, rich besser, Joshua Lederberg wrote, the single biggest threat to mans continued dominance on the planet is the virus. Are we doing enough to address this broad threat of viruses . I dont think we are. We have been far too much in a reactive mode when it comes to new emerging infections. There has to be a much bigger approach. A much bigger effort to try to look at where will the next virus emerge . How do we prepare for that . Wherever it may occur. Thank you both very much. Now to immigration. And the crisis on our southern border. Congress has gone home without agreeing on plan. There are new questions this morning about what president obama can do on his own to deal with the overlapping issues. Abcs jim avila has the latest. Reporter its official. Congress has left the building. Leaving the president promising to go solo on the humanitarian crisis at the border and broader immigration reform. Im going to have to act alone. Because we dont have enough resources. We have already been very clear. We have run out of money. Reporter congress on vacation after a last minute flurry of finger pointing. The crisis on the border is one of the president s own making. Reporter in the end, nothing went from the hill to the president for signing. The house stands adjourned. Reporter and 1500 miles to the southwest, along the rio grande, there is no vacation. The rafts keep crossing as we saw from a Border Patrol boat this week. Theres a group coming across. Reporter the Obama Administration has surged 200 more agents to this area, adding more boats. Its working, say the people on the ground and the water. Unaccompanied minor crossings are down by half in july. What do you see . The numbers have gone down. Reporter is it because the message is going across . I dont know about the message getting across. All i can say is the more patrols out here, the more the local agencies are helping out. Reporter the refugees keep coming. The moms and children. Often children by themselves. This 17yearold girl came, she says, because of the gangs at home. The violence over there doesnt a i low us to go to school. Thats why were coming over here. Reporter this type of effort on the border is expensive. So are the new facilities built to humanely hold the moms and kids. While they await a hearing. The Border Patrol and i. C. E. Say theyll run out of money. By the Time Congress comes back 26 days from now. In enough time for 5700 children to cross the river alone. For abc, jim avila, mcallen, texas. Now to the blunt language on president obama on torture. And new pressure on the cia. Just days before a report is released talking about the agencys policies after 9 11. The president speaking out, defending his cia director who is under fire from senators livid over cia snooping on senate staff. Chief White House Correspondent jon karl has the story. Reporter a long awaited report by the Senate Intelligence committee may cast the harshest light yet on the cias post 9 11 interrogation program. Heres how the president summed it up on friday. We tortured some folks. We did some things contrary to our values. Reporter the president came into office criticizing those policies. We must leave these methods where they belong in the past. Reporter now hes urging people to remember what the cia was up against after the september 11th attacks. Its spornt for its important for us not to feel too sanctimonious in retrospect about the tough job those folks had. Reporter the report is not the only bad news. John brennan had to make an extraordinary apology this week, admitting the cia spied on computers used by congressional staffers working on the interrogation report. The accusation of cia spying was first made in march by senate bell jens Intelligence Committee chairwoman dianne feinstein. I have grave concerns that the cia search may well have violated the separation of powers principle. Reporter back then, brennan strongly denied the charge. Nothing could be further from the truth. We wouldnt do that. Thats beyond the scope of reason. Reporter while some democrats are now calling on brennan to resign, president obama is standing by him. I have full confidence in john brennan. Reporter for this week, jonathan karl, abc news, washington. Thanks to jon for that. Joining us now, dan pfeiffer, senior white house adviser. Thanks for coming in. The president said he has full confidence in john brennan. We also saw john brennan say a few months ago that he didnt know about the snooping. Nothing could be further from the truth. Either he didnt know what was going on in his own agency or he wasnt telling the truth. Doesnt that trouble the president . We have to look at how he responded. When there were allegations of improper conduct, he was the one who referred the allegations to the inspector general. He said hes setting up an accountability review board. John brennan is a man of great integrity and ability. Someone the president knows very well. The president has confidence in him. The Senate Report likely to come out this week. Maybe a little later. Will the president order more action in the wake of the report . I think what this report does, which the president called to be declassified as much as possible as quickly as possible. What hes said is we want to acknowledge it. We want to make sure it never happens again. Which is why, in his first week in office, he signed the executive order banning these activities. Immigration. The president is planning to take action now that its failed in the house, to protect more of the undocumented immigrants living in the United States. In november, he said his hands were tied. Take a look. If, in fact, i could solve all these problems without passing laws in congress, then i would do so. But, were also a nation of laws. Thats part of our tradition. So, you know, according to people who have been briefed by the white house, this could affect up to 5 million undocumented immigrants. Doesnt a reversal like that fuel the arguments of those saying the president is overstepping his authority . Well, first, i think, the reports youre seeing are uninformed speculation. Completely uninformed . Yes. The president has asked for recommendations by the end of the summer. Theyve not done that yet. Lets wait and see what those are before we make judgment. What the president referred to, whatever he does in this space will be a will not be a substitute for comprehensive immigration reform. The congress will still have to act. But because of congresss failure to fix the immigration system and the path, we need to deal with a specific crisis on the border. The president has no choice but to act. If the president ends up providing, even if he hasnt made a decision yet, providing no deportation for up to 4 million or 5 Million Immigrants, how do you address the comments of john yoo. If the president can refuse to enforce an entire class of law, such as the immigration law, against millions, because he dislikes the policy. Why cant the next president unilaterally lower tax rates by refusing to prosecute anyone who only pays a 20 income tax when congress requires 33 . What is the limiting principle here . The limiting principle is the law. In 2012, he took a step to protect a class of individuals, the dreamers, young immigrants who came here through no fault of their own. That was done within the confines of the law. The republicans last week took a vote to deport all those people to countries that most of them dont even remember. And that i think speaks to the challenge the president has. We need to address the situation on the border. And in the immigration system. Hell do what he can within the confines of the law. It will be in september . At the end of the summer. On the whole specter of impeachment. So much talk. As you know, a lot of republicans are saying that you, personally, are the person fueling all of this. You want to keep the debate going to rally the base. Nate silver did a piece where he said democrats are way more obsessed with impeachment than republicans. Msnbc has talked about it five times more than fox news. Youre raising money on this as well. I wonder how you respond to the findings and the charge that its democrats fueling the talk. Well, i think what i said was it old be foolish to discount the idea that this republican congress, at some point, would not consider it. They say its not going happen. And five days before the government shut down, the speaker said there is no way we would shut the government down other health care. And they did. John boehner has the gavel. Ted cruz has the power. You dont really think impeachment is possible . When they take the step to sue the president of the United States, everyone though hes issuing executive orders as the lowest rate in years, i think it would be foolish to discount the possibility. The talk will keep on going. Dan pfeiffer, thank you very much. Up next, on the road in South Carolina with the senates only black republican. What is tim scotts message to his party . And the roundtable talks to us about little getting done and everyone lashing out. We never thought wed be farming wind out here. Its not just building jobs here, its helping our community. Siemens location here has just received a major order of wind turbines. It puts a huge smile on my face. Cause im like, this is what we do. the fact that iowa is leading the way in wind energy, im so proud, like, its just amazing. In todays closer look, can one senator help the Republican Party broaden its base . Tim scott of South Carolina is the first africanamerican republican from the south since reconstruction. The first black republican in over three decades. He has a message for his party. Jeff zeleny went on the road with scott in charleston. Reporter tim scott is happy to be back home in South Carolina. Up high. Reporter giving high fives. Down low. Reporter posing for selfies. In every audience. Hamming it up. This is my cousin. Look at this. Reporter for five years, hes been on a rocket ride. Rising from the Charleston County council to the house of representatives. We caught up with him on the start of the fiveweek summer break. Leaving a whole list of things unresolved. Its a hard question to wrestle with. How to be compassionate to people that you know are coming to your borders looking for a better way of life, and, at the same time, adhering to the laws of the country. Reporter congress has two months to deal with this and nothing. Walked away with absolutely nothing. Is it not a crisis anymore . Its not a crisis that occurred in the last two months. The lack of collaboration. And to show up in the 23rd hour saying, we need you to approve a 4 billion package is not the way to do it. Reporter he was appointed to the senate a year and half ago, arriving just in time for one of the least productive periods in memory. Whether youre a republican or democrat, you look at the senate and you say to yourself you shake your head. Reporter scott is brimming with optimism. And steeped in history. Hes not only the lone republican africanamerican in congress. But the only black republican senator in more than a century. I noticed a headline in South Carolinas biggest newspaper earlier this year. It says the gop hopes tim scott will attract more black voters. Do you think you have done that . I hope i have provided an opportunity to have a serious conversation with voters everywhere. White voters, black voters, old voters, young voters. Reporter why do republicans struggle to diversify they ranks . We need to win the war of ideas. Reporter black republicans are a rare find here in South Carolina. Black democrats are skeptical of his politics. Its always good to have diversity. But ders diversity can be skin color and it can be philosophy. I would hope that the Republican Party would be a little more diversified in this approach to the governance. Reporter scott says republicans should spend more time focusing on poor and middle class americans. Have republicans, as a party, though, focused enough on these issues . I think theres always room for improvement. Without any question. One of the things i said consistently is we have to play in the education space. My life has changed because of public education. Reporter scott grew up on this deadend street in north charleston. He