A YouTuber who posted a video of himself deliberately crashing his small plane has been jailed for six months.
Trevor Daniel Jacob, 30, a pilot from Lompoc, California, was convicted for obstructing a federal investigation by destroying the wreckage after the crash, the US Justice Department said.
Jacob had pleaded guilty in June to one count of destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation.
The experienced pilot and skydiver uploaded the video titled “I Crashed My Airplane” a month after the stunt in 2021, which remains on YouTube with more than four million views.
Jacob took off from an airport in Lompoc on a solo flight in a Taylorcraft BL-65 purportedly destined for Mammoth Lakes, California.
However, after flying for 35 minutes he jumped out of the plane while flying over a forest and filmed himself parachuting to the ground.
He also captured the plane plummeting with his camera and others mounted on the aircraft’s wing and tail.
After he landed, Jacob went to the crash site and recovered footage from the onboard cameras, the US government said.
According to the plea agreement, Jacob had a sponsorship deal to promote a company’s product in a video he would post, and he never intended to complete the flight that day.
The Justice Department said Jacob later told investigators about the crash and was told he was responsible for preserving the wreckage.
When asked about the location, Jacob lied – saying he did not know the site, the department said.
On 10 December 2021, Jacob and a friend flew to the site in a helicopter which lifted the wreckage and flew it to a trailer attached to his truck, the plea agreement said.
The remains were later cut up and its parts were disposed of in bins.
The Federal Aviation Administration revoked Jacob’s pilot licence in April 2022, saying he “demonstrated a lack of care, judgment and responsibility”.
A video has since appeared on Jacob’s YouTube channel where he claims he got his licence back.
Thousands of people are set to march from three separate points around Washington DC on Saturday ahead of Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday.
The rally, going by the People’s March, is a rebrand of the 2017 Women’s March, which saw more than 500,000 marchers take to the streets of DC at the start of Mr Trump’s first reign, as millions more participated in local marches around the country.
The marches are being led by several national activists groups, and mark the start of what the incoming president called “the most important weekend, plus, in American history” on his Truth Social platform.
But the march this year is tipped to be around one 10th of the size of the first one after Democrat Kamala Harris’s resounding loss to the Republicans, with organisers saying it has been a struggle to conjure up the same passion as in 2017.
“The reality is that it’s just hard to capture lightning in a bottle,” said Tamika Middleton, managing director at the Women’s March.
“It was a really particular moment. In 2017, we had not seen a Trump presidency and the kind of vitriol that that represented.”
Ms Middleton says the march, which rebranded to be more inclusive, is not specifically aimed at Mr Trump this time around, but rather on a broader set of issues, such as women’s and reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, immigration, climate and democracy.
“We’re not thinking about the march as the endgame,” she said.
“[We’re thinking] how do we get those folks who show up into organisations and into their political homes so they can keep fighting in their communities long term?”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:38
In London: Women march ahead of Trump’s inauguration
Meanwhile, Mr Trump is kicking off his inauguration weekend festivities at Trump National Sterling, outside of DC, according to Sky News’ US partner NBC News.
The day’s events will include a reception for the president-elect and fireworks, according to Trump’s inaugural committee’s events schedule.
Spreaker
This content is provided by Spreaker, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Spreaker cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Spreaker cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Spreaker cookies for this session only.
TikTok is to be banned in the US from Sunday if it is not sold by its Chinese parent company, the Supreme Court has ruled.
However, President Joe Biden has said he will not enforce the ban for the few remaining hours he is in office, leaving it up to Donald Trump to decide what to do when he enters the White House on Monday.
After the Supreme Court ruling, where the judges voted 9-0 in favour of the ban, the White House released a statement saying TikTok should remain available to Americans.
“TikTok should remain available to Americans, but simply under American ownership or other ownership that addresses the national security concerns identified by Congress in developing this law,” the White House said in a statement.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
1:56
Why is TikTok getting banned in the US?
The US’s top judges were deciding whether to overturn the ban after hearing appeals from TikTok creators and its lawyers.
US officials banned the app over concerns its parent company could give data on American citizens to the Chinese government. TikTok’s owners Bytedance have repeatedly said they won’t sell the social media platform.
President-elect Donald Trump also tried to get the ban delayed, so he could make a decision on it once he was in office.
However, the Supreme Court has decided to stick with the original ban.
Now, one day before Mr Trump returns to the White House, the social media app used by 170 million Americans will be banned.
There could be a quick beheading, with TikTok itself as the executioner.
There are reports the company will pull the plug for US users. When they attempt to open the app, people will see a pop-up message directing them to a website with information about the ban, Reuters is reporting.
At a Supreme Court hearing last week, TikTok’s lawyer said the app would “go dark” in the US if the ban came into force.
Although there are a lot of American TikTok users, more than 1.5 billion people use TikTok worldwide, so the company could well decide it can manage without its US influencers.
If Mr Trump decides to enforce the ban, there could be a slow, painful death for TikTok in the US, where companies including Apple and Google take it off their app stores.
That will mean no new users can download the app and there won’t be any updates.
The app will slowly get clunkier and buggier and US creators will start to disappear.
Or, the president-elect will work out a way of stopping the ban coming into force.
Will Donald Trump save US TikTok?
Mr Trump gets into the White House the day after the ban begins.
He is now a big fan of TikTok with more than 14.8 million followers. He even credited the app with helping him win back the presidency.
He may try to undermine the ban, but he does not have the power to overturn it.
He could, however, say he won’t enforce it, and promise app store hosts such as Apple and Google they will not be prosecuted if they keep the app on their platforms.
Whether those major companies will want to take the risk of ignoring a legal ban is up for debate, however.
After the Supreme Court’s decision, Mr Trump said he would make a decision quickly on how to deal with TikTok but he “must have time to review the situation”.
US TikTokers have already started to migrate, with many heading to the Chinese social media app Xiaohongshu, or RedNote, which topped the US App Store this week.
In just two days, more than 700,000 new users joined Xiaohongshu, according to Reuters.
“They’re trying to give a big middle finger to the establishment,” Chinese RedNote user William Wang told Sky News, after he watched the app flood with Americans using the hashtag #TikTokRefugees.
“They’re rebellious, they’re going to go on a very Chinese application, not just TikTok, an entirely Chinese ecosystem.”
For the users not heading to RedNote, the more traditional apps are waiting in the wings.
Social media expert Adam Tinworth told Sky News the last time a major country banned TikTok, in India in 2020, it was not start-ups who benefitted – despite “a bunch” trying to fill the gap.
He said: “Because Meta had its Reels project ready and Alphabet had Shorts in YouTube, the vast majority of the activity on TikTok just gravitated towards those two platforms.”
When the ban was being discussed last year, Mr Trump said one of his issues was that the ban would send more people to Mark Zuckerberg’s apps.
“Without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people,” he said in March 2024.
Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony is to be moved indoors due to cold weather forecast for Washington DC on Monday.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, the president-elect said he will now take the oath of office inside the Capitol Rotunda building, where dignitaries and guests will gather and prayers and other speeches will also be delivered.
It means the roughly 250,000 people who were ticketed to view the inauguration from around the Capitol grounds will no longer be able to do so.
Thousands more were expected to be in general admission areas or to line the route from the Capitol Building to the White House.
Mr Trump said the Capitol One Arena in Washington will open for a live viewing of his swearing-in ceremony and to host the Presidential Parade.
“I will join the crowd at Capital One, after my swearing-in,” he said.
Outlining the reasons for the inauguration to be moved in doors, he said: “The weather forecast for Washington DC, with the wind chill factor, could take temperatures into severe record lows.
“There is an Arctic blast sweeping the country. I don’t want to see people hurt, or injured, in any way.
“It is dangerous conditions for the tens of thousands of law enforcement, first responders, police K9s and even horses, and hundreds of thousands of supporters that will be outside for many hours on the 20th.
“In any event, if you decide to come, dress warmly.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
8:05
A who’s who of the Trump family
Mr Trump wrote that all other events from his inauguration day will “remain the same”, including the Victory Rally at the Capital One Arena on Sunday and all three Inaugural Balls on Monday evening.
He added in his Truth Social post: “Everyone will be safe, everyone will be happy, and we will, together, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
A spokesperson for the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies (JCCIC) said in a statement that it will “honour the request of the President-elect and his Presidential Inaugural Committee to move the 60th Inaugural Ceremonies inside the U.S. Capitol to the Rotunda”.
The last time a swearing-in ceremony was held indoors was Ronald Reagan’s second inauguration in 1985. Monday’s forecast suggests the lowest inauguration day temperatures since that day.
The National Weather Service is predicting the temperature to be around -6C at noon during the swearing-in, the coldest since Mr Reagan’s second inauguration saw temperatures plunge to -14C.
Barack Obama’s 2009 swearing-in was -2C. Adding to the bite, the wind is forecast to be 30 to 35mph.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.