democrats seats. also tonight in a new report in the u.s. withdrawal from afghanistan the white house largely blaming the chaos and decisions by former president trump on the actions it says the u.s. should have taken even sooner. the rising tensions in the middle east. israel striking back tonight after the biggest barrage of missiles from lebanon in more than 16 years. tracking severe storms on the move tonight in the midatlantic on the heels of that deadly tornado outbreak. nbc news investigates after our report on toxic air concerns near a louisiana school. what the epa is now doing about it. and it was 20 years ago we lost a member of our nbc news family covering the war in iraq. tonight my conversation with david bloom s widow about the lives his story may have saved. announcer: this is nbc nightly news with lester holt. good evening and welcome. the tears of grief that consume nashville, tennessee, just ten days ago over the murders of young children and
president trump whahad left office eight months earlier including citing sharp draw downs of u.s. troops. it is also undeniable that decisions made and the lack of planning done by the previous administration significantly limited options available to him. reporter: though acknowledging the biden administration should have started the evacuation earlier. despite facing withering criticism president biden at the time called the withdrawal a, quote, extraordinary success. no nation no nation has ever done anything like it in all of history. reporter: and today this push back from a white house spokesperson. for all this talk of chaos i just didn t see it not from my perch pad. i just don t buy the whole argument of chaos. it was tough in the first few hours. reporter: but a former top trump official tonight firing back. they came in, took the plan we had and just botched it. it s outrageous to somehow try and blame anyone but joe biden. reporter: we pressed the white ho