FBI PUBLIC AFFAIRS - DIRECTOR'S AM NEWS BRIEFING TUESDAY, AUGUST 17, 2021 5:00 AM EDT Media Analyses: "Defiant" President Defends Withdrawal, Blames Others For Chaos. President Biden returned to Washington on Monday, and addressed the nation on the situation in Afghanistan in a speech that was commonly described as "defiant." In addition, a focus of much of the coverage was the President's moves to shift blame for the situation to others, such as the Afghan government and former President Donald Trump. The CBS Evening News (8/16, 6:35 p.m. EST, story 2, 3:00, O'Donnell, 3.55M) reported President Biden "said today that staying in Afghanistan is not in America's national security interests. The mission is to prevent another attack on the American homeland and it has been a decade since the death of Osama Bin Laden." CBS (Jiang) added, in coverage interspersing video of the President speaking with scenes from Afghanistan, "President Biden took little responsibility for his administration's miscalculation of how the war would end, only briefly mentioning today's chaotic scenes at the Kabul airport." NBC Nightly News (8/16, 6:35 p.m. EST, story 2, 2:20, Holt, 5.72M) reported, President Biden addressed the nation for the first time since the Taliban takeover, expressing surprise it happened so quickly, but defending his decision to end American involvement after two decades. Peter Alexander is at the White House." NBC (Alexander) said the President was "defiant and without regret." However, "While the President did not explain the US's responsibility for the current chaos, he put blame on Afghan soldiers for giving up." ABC World News Tonight (8/16, 6:32 p.m. EST, lead story, 7:45, Muir, 6.15M) reported, "late today, for the first time, President Biden addressing the American people, saying, 'I stand squarely behind my decision,' but saying the truth is, this did unfold more quickly than we anticipated, saying Afghan leaders gave up, that the military