Chelsea Clinton begged her mother for assistance in getting a visa for a friend – and the then Secretary of State’s top aides scrambled to help, new emails published on Thursday reveal.

The tranche of emails were forced out of the State Department by campaign group Citizens United in lengthy litigation, and cast new light on Clinton’s use of her secret server, and her relationship with her daughter.

In January 2012 Chelsea emailed Hillary Clinton, then secretary of state, and her top aides Huma Abedin and Cheryl Mills asking them for help in obtaining a visa for a 'distraught' friend and forwarding the email of his ‘story’.

The email was sent on a Sunday morning to Clinton’s secret Clintonemail.com address, whose existence was concealed by Clinton and which has become a running sore for her campaign.

Freddie Sayers, pictured left cheering at a Clinton campaign rally in 2008, emailed Chelsea Clinton in 2012 asking for help in getting a visa. The Clinton machine swung into action

Rush to action: Huma Abedin was one of the senior aides who got involved in trying to help Freddie Sayers, now editor-in-chief of polling company YouGov

'Hi Mom, Cheryl and Huma - The silliest thing about my blanking on the call this morning was that I was actually on the phone with my friend [redacted] who is distraught about his current visa conundrum (is talking about something firmly in your world!)' the email from Chelsea reads.

'I asked him to write out an explanation and send it to me so that I could see if there was anything the collective you could do to help him given the challenge originated from a miscommunication and a snafu and no ill intent (quite the opposite).

'If however, as ever, there is nothing that can be done, please let me know that and I'll tell him he has to just go back into the US Embassy queue in London,' Chelsea finishes.

The email was sent by Chelsea on January 22, 2012, under her alias Diane Reynolds.

She pasted in the email from her friend, apparently sent just six minutes beforehand when the time difference is taken into account.

'Hey Chels - Cripes, I feel like such an idiot for managing to screw this up,' the email reads.

'I just didn't think it would be an issue. Below is my 'story' and I have attached the letters of recommendation I had with me - any advice appreciated!

'Can't wait to see you - I still hope very soon .-)

'Oh deary deary me...' the sender continues, before signing off with 'F xxx'.

The friend's name is redacted, except for the initial in his sign-off, 'F xxx'.

But DailyMail.com can reveal he is Freddie Sayers, a British citizen who is an Oxford graduate and contemporary of Chelsea when she studied at the university who once starred in a TV movie about Princess Diana.

He is now the editor-in-chief of YouGov, which on Thursday published a poll showing Clinton five points ahead of Donald Trump.

Sayers is also a friend of Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, and was seen with her on a night out in 2006. He was known in the past for his resemblance to her now husband, Prince William, and played him in a TV movie about Diana, Princess of Wales, made for a British channel in 1998.

He is now the editor-in-chief of YouGov, the polling company, which on Thursday published a poll showing Clinton five points ahead of Donald Trump.

Well-connected: the email from Sayers, now editor-in-chief of YouGov, was published by Citizens United and shows how Cheryl Mills, the then chief of staff, rushed to help him

Access: How Chelsea used her mother's secret private email address to beg for help for her ultra well-connected friend

Clinton’s aides’ help for the boss of a polling firm was unknown until the publication of the emails. The outcome of his visa application is not known.

The email exchange is problematic for the Clintons, who have been criticized for using their public status for private gain and accused of elitism.

Sayers emailed Chelsea just a week before he was supposed to board his flight to America - and the Clinton machine sprang into action.

Cheryl Mills, the chief of staff at the time, replied to Chelsea slightly over two hours later, agreeing to help.

'Adding Nora who will likely reach out to [redacted] to see what is possible - generally rejections make it harder to get over so flagging that this may be hard to undo but we'll see what's doable,' she writes.

Mills copied in Nora Toiv, then a special assistant to the counselor / chief of staff at the State Department, according to her LinkedIn profile. Toiv replies saying she will 'see what's possible'.

The email is yet another example of how the Clintons and their associates used their political clout to help those in their circle.

Sayers' position as head of a polling company could add fuel to Trump's claims that the polling system is 'rigged' against him

Chelsea has been busy campaigning for her mother

Sayers turned to his friend 'Chels' for help after failing to get hold of a proper visa in time. He was supposed to be working with YouGov – originally a British polling company, but one which now has a worldwide presence - in its Palo Alto, California offices providing 'business consulting' for six months.

And Sayers's position as head of a polling company could add fuel to Trump's claims that the polling system is 'rigged' against him.

A survey published by the Economist and YouGov on Thursday showed Clinton ahead of Trump at 46 points to 41 in a four-way match-up of the candidates.

The Republican told a crowd in Florida on Monday that emails from Clinton's campaign chair John Podesta, published by WikiLeaks, showed that Podesta 'rigged' the polls by oversampling Democrats, according to Politico.

'When the polls are even, when they leave them alone and do them properly, I’m leading,' he said.

'But you see these polls, where they’re polling Democrats - "how’s Trump doing" "oh he’s down" - they're polling Democrats!'

He also tweeted on Thursday that his campaign was having 'a lot of call-ins about vote flipping at the voting booths in Texas, after at least two reports of early votes being changed from Trump to Hillary Clinton when ballots were finalized on machines in the Lone Start state.

Texas Democratic Party chairwoman Deborah Peoples told CBS 11 in Dallas that she had also heard of 'multiple examples' of vote-flipping that took votes away from Clinton, and that she was working with the election office on the matter.

Sayers is known to be the un-named friend as the letters of recommendation attached to the published emails correspond to his resume, and his friendship with Chelsea is well-documented. The letters describe how he was hired in 2011 'based on his experience starting the U.K.'s leading political news website and on his experience with content aggregation and online media.'

Sayers founded UK political news website Politics Home, which he sold in 2009. He then began working with YouGov in 2011 on a joint venture called CoEditor Limited and is now the polling company’s editor-in-chief and chief technology officer. He remains a Clinton supporter.

In response to a request for comment the State department said, 'Section 222 (f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) prohibits us from disclosing details from individual visa cases.'