--- title: White House Fence Jumper Tried to 'Deliver Message' description: According to lawyer Stephan Seeger canonical: https://time.com/4128776/white-house-fence-jumper-message/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-29T23:08:54.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:56:50.994Z article:section: Politics og:title: White House Fence Jumper Tried to 'Deliver Message' og:description: According to lawyer Stephan Seeger og:url: https://time.com/4128776/white-house-fence-jumper-message/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0f1ff8ea8b1c767/698872fa0b72e3bc366e7040/white-house-fence-jumper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: APTOPIX White House Fence Jumper og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: White House Fence Jumper Tried to 'Deliver Message' twitter:description: According to lawyer Stephan Seeger twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0f1ff8ea8b1c767/698872fa0b72e3bc366e7040/white-house-fence-jumper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # White House Fence Jumper Wanted to 'Deliver Message' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Nov 29, 2015 11:08 PM UTC  A man jumps a fence at the White House in Washington on Nov. 26, 2015. A man jumps a fence at the White House in Washington on Nov. 26, 2015. Vanessa Pena—AP by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Nov 29, 2015 11:08 PM UTC A lawyer for Joseph Caputo, the flag-draped 23-year-old [accused of scaling a White House fence](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/white-house-lockdown-after-man-draped-american-flag-jumps-fence-n470111) on Thanksgiving, told NBC News Sunday that his client was a “politically-conscious young man” who was simply trying to “deliver a message.” It was a message, said the lawyer, Stephan Seeger, that “addresses the issues of education, the judiciary, the legal system. It’s a writing I suspect was earmarked for the government to see.” Court documents have stated that Caputo [left a suicide note](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alleged-white-house-fence-jumper-left-suicide-note-n470491), though Seeger said that “couldn’t be further from the truth.” Caputo’s words, he said, had been mischaracterized. [Read more from our partners at NBC News](http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/white-house-fence-jumper-was-trying-deliver-message-lawyer-n470951?cid=par-time%5F20151129) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4128776/white-house-fence-jumper-message/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4128776/white-house-fence-jumper-message/"},"headline":"White House Fence Jumper Wanted to 'Deliver Message'","datePublished":"2015-11-29T23:08:54.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:56:50.994Z","description":"Lawyer denies Joseph Caputo left a suicide note","url":"https://time.com/4128776/white-house-fence-jumper-message/","keywords":["White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0f1ff8ea8b1c767/698872fa0b72e3bc366e7040/white-house-fence-jumper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta0f1ff8ea8b1c767/698872fa0b72e3bc366e7040/white-house-fence-jumper.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"APTOPIX White House Fence Jumper","caption":"In this photo provided by Vanessa Pena, a man jumps a fence at the White House on Thursday, Nov. 26, 2015, in Washington. 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