Since Sunday, administration officials have been issuing assurances to concerned Democrats and talking with allies around the world that felt betrayed. They are calling members of Congress who have been publicly supportive of Joe Biden to express the president’s gratitude.

Biden’s aides are adjusting their communications strategy regarding the country’s collapse to corral supportive voices and push back on the “crisis of confidence” narrative. Their overt adjustments include dispatching national security adviser Jake Sullivan to the press briefing Tuesday to offer more transparent answers — delivered in a more conciliatory tone than the president took in his remarks on Monday. And the White House shared a new image of the president surrounded by his national security team, countering its much-maligned weekend photo of Biden appearing isolated at Camp David amid the erupting chaos in Kabul…

But one House Democratic source said there is a blame game unfolding between officials at the Defense and State departments over the processing of the visas and the intelligence failures. House members are expected to receive a classified briefing on Afghanistan next week.

Democrats on the Hill are focusing their attention on the immediate evacuation needs. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) has submitted more than 300 applications for visas and is pressing the State Department to process people as “liberally and leniently” as possible. The State Department left Connolly with the impression that they planned to be lenient and not insist on perfect documentation, but they gave no hard confirmation. Connolly, however, still defended Biden, arguing that the events of the past week cannot be viewed in a vacuum.