Happening now, strike controversy, the White House and the Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth

now saying it was an admiral who ordered the deadly double-tap strike on an alleged drug boat,

but the legality of that order remains in question.

Plus, new details about the 911 call that led to Luigi Mangione's

arrest at the suspected United Healthcare CEO killer is back in court this morning. And

bomb cyclone. A massive winter storm causing headaches in the Midwest, now barreling into the

northeast. Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world.

I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is off, and you're in the situation room.

New this morning, all eyes on Defense Secretary Pete Hexeth at President Trump's cabinet meeting next hour as the administration ramps up pressure on Venezuela and feels the heat from lawmakers.

Hexseth faces bipartisan scrutiny up on Capitol Hill for his role in a controversial follow-up strike against

a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean back in September after the initial strike failed to kill

everyone on board.

It doesn't sound good, and if somebody actually did this, they should be held accountable.

And it should be at the top, not at the bottom.

The Secretary Heggs is in charge here.

He gave the order, so he needs to be responsible for.

He needs to tell us what it was.

And we have not gotten those clear answers yet.

We're going to conduct oversight and we're going to try to get to the facts.

The Trump administration defending Hexeth and confirming the second strike actually happened.

The White House says U.S. Special Operations Command Head, Admiral Frank, Mitch Bradley,

directed the follow-up strike.

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