Notes by Giuliani’s 'jack-of-all-trades' adviser who 'struggled to get paid' sent to special counsel: report

Editor's note: Headline updated for clarity.

Notes written by one of the closest aides to America's criminally indicted whilom Mayor Rudy Giuliani were handed over to United States Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith as part of his ongoing investigation into the January 6th, 2021 conspiracy allegedly perpetrated by former President Donald Trump and members of his inner orbit, Politico's Betsy Woodruff Swan and Kyle Cheney report.

Katherine Freiss "circulated a draft email addressed to the White House seeking 'provisional' security clearances for the former mayor and members of his team as part of their work to keep Donald Trump in power," according to documents reviewed by Swan and Cheney.

Freiss "helped Giuliani woo potential donors to finance Trump's effort to reverse the results of the election," Cheney and Swan note. "She helped draft a 'strategic communications plan' for a final push to keep Trump in office, a document that became a focus for Jan. 6 investigators and that called for placing paid ads on radio and TV alleging widespread voter fraud. At the same time, Friess warned other Trump aides that their claims about dead people voting in Georgia were weak — but Trump continued to trumpet those claims anyway."

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Politico continues, "Friess, a national security consultant with deep roots in Washington, kept a low profile, but in November and December 2020, she was Giuliani's jack-of-all-trades. A host of emails and documents exchanged by Friess and other Giuliani aides have been turned over to special counsel Jack Smith, according to a person familiar with the investigation granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive material."

Politico writes, "The earliest known sign of her involvement with Giuliani's team is a declaration she signed on Nov. 9, 2020, in which she complained of restricted access to mail-in ballot counting processes in Allegheny County, Pa. It's unclear if the declaration was ever filed in court, but a version of it, with Friess' signature, was among the documents reviewed by POLITICO. In the document, Friess said she was an approved Republican Party observer and spent two hours watching the process at a Pittsburgh canvassing center on the morning of Nov. 3, 2020. She didn't have a good view of how election workers were reviewing and counting mail-in ballots, she added. 'I do not believe any of these ballots should be allowed to be part of the final vote tally,' she wrote."

Although Freiss "has not been accused of any wrongdoing — by prosecutors or by Congress," Politico explains, her personal accounts "add new detail to the public understanding of how Trump's allies operated after Election Day — and how they grappled with obstacles both immense and quotidian."

Moreover, the communications, "including more than 20 sent or received by Friess herself," Politico adds, were submitted from "encrypted Hushmail or ProtonMail accounts" and "depict her as an active figure in Giuliani's effort who feared what would happen if they failed. And they show that like so many others who have worked for Trump over the decades, Friess struggled to get paid."

READ MORE: Giuliani’s 'life essentially is falling apart' amid mounting 'legal woes': reporter

Swan's and Cheney's full analysis is available at this link.