A YouTuber by the name of Trevor Jacob crashed his plane in a California
national forest and later finally admitted to intentionally doing it
in order to boost his views and obtain a sponsorship deal, Cenk?
>> Okay, so I remember covering this story, and
you could find the video somewhere on YouTube.
But my recollect is I was like, no, he's definitely doing it for the views.
>> Yeah. >> It was at a time when someone else
had crashed a plane and gotten giant amount of publicity,
and this guy happens to have a camera in the plane.
And just everything about that story rang of BS to me.
>> It seemed calculated at the time.
>> Yeah.
>> And now we have confirmation.
So let's back up.
Let's understand what the story was and
how it has developed since 2021 when this plane crash occurred.
So if he was trying to get views, mission accomplished,
because that video has 4.2 million views since being
posted back in December of 2021.
Now we'll give you the latest update.
But first, here's part of the video where his propeller supposedly malfunctioned,
and then he leaps out of the plane with a parachute that he conveniently had on him.
>> Yeah, I remember that being one of the things where I was like,
yeah, super sketchy.
>> So let's watch.
>> I'm over
the mountains,
and I get out
of exit door.
>> A lot of convenient things happening.
He's perfect camera angles as it's taking place,
get a perfect shot of the plane as it crashes.
And here he is right after the crash,
talking about just how grateful he is to be alive.
>> My gosh, I'm just so happy to be alive.
I'm just kind of taking in what just happened.
Well, where the hell am I going to land a freaking plane?
I'm going to die.
That's why I always freaking fly with a parachute.
I'm in pain, man.
I'm hurting, whatever I'm going through, I wish upon nobody.
It's getting dark.
I'm just trying to get out of here.
I'm not sure if you can hear that, but you can hear a cow.
I can hear a cow.
I literally just went onto my knees.
>> So pretty much as soon as this whole incident happened, many felt that it
was suspicious, including the Federal Aviation Administration.
So in a letter to Trevor Jacob on April 11, 2022,
the FAA said he had violated Federal Aviation regulations and
operated his single engine plane in a careless or
reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another.
The agency said it would immediately revoke Jacob's private pilot certificate,
effectively ending his permission to operate any aircraft.
And they had a pretty damn compelling case as well.
Okay, so here's what the FAA claimed.
During this flight, you opened the left side pilot door before you
claimed the engine had failed, the FAA wrote.
Before jumping out of the plane.
The agency said Jacob made no attempt to contact air
traffic control on the emergency frequency,
did not try to restart the engine by increasing airflow over the propeller.
And failed to look for a place to safely land, even though there were multiple
areas within gliding range in which you could have made a safe landing.
Even so, in a statement to The New York Times after the crash,
Jacob claimed that he did not purposely do this.
I did not do this on purpose.
The truth of that situation will come out in time, he said now indeed it did.
Here's the update.
Trevor Jacob made the admission in a plea agreement filed in federal court in
Los Angeles.
According to the agreement, Jacob had intended to use the video for
a sponsorship deal with an unnamed company that made wallets.
You risked your life to get a sponsorship deal with a company that makes wallets?
I mean, this is I died trying to take a selfie
on the edge of a cliff level stupid.
>> Yeah, totally, look, I don't want to say hashtag Cenk was right, and
I don't want to say that because it was super obvious.
Look, this is my recollection of what we said back then.
Why is there a camera that shows you jumping out of the plane?
I get a camera inside the cockpit.
You're a YouTuber or something.
You bothered to put a camera on the wing of the back of the plane that would show
you jumping out of the plane just in case you happen to crash over uninhabited land.
Another wild coincidence.
And by the way, now we know that he said that, I don't know where I crashed,
but it turns out, no, he knew exactly where it was.
He went and got the stuff.
The plane crashed and threw it away.
>> Yeah, he basically did away with the parts of the plane that remained,
even though he had told investigators that he had no idea where
the site of the crash was.
>> Yeah, look, the bottom line on this story is we're now so
obsessed with fame that people are literally dying to get famous.
And so here in this case, thank God, he didn't die.
But he risked it.
He risked it just so he could do that terrible acting when he was on the ground.
God, I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
My God, I don't know where I am.
Look at this, it turns out, coincidentally,
I'm close to civilization, okay.
Although I crashed over uninhabited land, and I have cameras everywhere.
All sorts, wild coincidence.
>> By the way, how good does that land look, right?
Like, I'd like to build a house right in the middle of that.
>> Yeah, well, until this guy crashes into it.
>> Yeah.
>> Okay.
>> Still so secluded.
It looks so secluded and so lovely.
>> Yeah. >> Mountainous, treacherous terrain.
>> All of a sudden, Anna's like, I don't know.
So what do you get?
20, he might get 20 years, I think, for this.
I don't think he's gonna actually get 20 years, but
that's what he's potentially facing.
So be careful of your dumb ass stunts,
because this is the real world where there's real world consequences.
>> Absolutely, yeah, he pleaded guilty to one count of destruction and
concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation.
A crime that carries a maximum penalty of 20 years behind bars,
the US attorney's Office for Central California said in a news release.
And you know what?
Since this is a federal case, there is a possibility he'll get a prison sentence.
I don't think it's gonna be 20 years, but if it was, like California prosecutors,
I'd say he's gonna be fine.
He probably won't serve a day behind bars.
>> Yeah, and now he's admitted it, so that's gonna lighten his sentence
obviously, part of the reason he admitted it is because it was so
freaking obvious [LAUGH].
So, but, ladies and gentlemen, they got him.
So next time you're thinking of doing a dumb ass stunt for
just to get a little more famous, don't do it.
>> Don't do it.
>> Yeah.