Democratic Rep. Jim Himes and Republican Sen. Tom Cotton offered vastly different takeaways from a U.S. military boat-strike video viewed by lawmakers, according to CNN reporter Selina Wang's X post shared over the past 59 minutes ending at 11:45 PM UTC on Dec. 7, 2025. Himes stated, "I think it's really important that people see what it looks like when the full force the United States military is turned on two guys who are clinging to a piece of wood and about to go under," per Wang's post at https://x.com/selinawangtv/status/1997809921589485669. Cotton remarked, “They looked at one point like they were trying to flip the boat back over presumably to rescue its cargo and continue their mission,” as cited by Wang referencing ABC World News in the same post. Separately, an X post by @SecWar stated that its author recently met with Swedish Minister of Defence Jonson at the Pentagon, noting Sweden is rapidly increasing its defense spending and views its new NATO membership as a call to step up, not slow down, according to the post at https://x.com/SecWar/status/1997809687979528292 during the reporting window.
