Happening now, breaking news, major escalation. President Trump intensifies his pressure campaign

on Venezuela with the U.S.'s first known strike inside the country. CNN's exclusive new reporting

on the attack. That's coming up. Plus, deep sea search. The new technology now being used to search for MH370 more than a decade after it vanished without a trace.

And winter nightmare, brutal, a brutal and widespread storm completely shuts down traffic on major highways across parts of the United States. Welcome to our viewers here in the U.S.

and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is off today. You're in the Situation Room.

We begin with a CNN exclusive new reporting reveals.

The CIA has carried out the United States' first known strike within Venezuela.

Sources now say a drone struck a Venezuelan port this month, marking a major escalation in President Trump's campaign against the country and its leader, Nicholas Maduro.

Late last week, President Trump appeared to reference the attack during an interview with a New York

radio show. Listen to this.

And we just talked out, I don't know if you read or you saw.

They have a big plant or a big facility where they send the, you know, where the ships

come from.

Two nights ago, we knocked that out.

So we hit them very hard.

All right.

I want to bring in CNN senior national security reporter Zach Cohn and CNN Senior White House reporter Kevin Liptec.

And Zach, let me start with you. You were one of our reporters who broke this story.

What more can you tell us about these developments seems like a major escalation?

Yeah, well, sources telling us that the CIA Dron Strike targeted a remote port facility located on the

Venezuelan coast. And this is a site that the U.S. believes is used by a Venezuelan gang that they've

linked to Nicholas Maduro, the Venezuelan president, used to load and unload drugs from ships.

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