Clinton Reportedly Revealed to FBI Who She Claims Advised Her to Use Private Email

Hillary Clinton reportedly told investigators that it was former Secretary of State Colin Powell who encouraged her to use a private email server during her own tenure as head of the State Department.

Clinton's admission is included in the notes the FBI released to Congress about their investigation into the Democratic presidential nominee's controversial use of a private server as she served as secretary of state, the New York Times reported. The FBI ultimately concluded that, while Clinton did have classified material on her server and was "extremely careless," charges should not be filed.

Colin Powell (AP Photo/Philip Kamrass)

The FBI said that Clinton, when pressed, told investigators that Powell encouraged her to use her own personal email.

The Times also reported that journalist Joe Conason's forthcoming book, "Man of the World: The Further Endeavors of Bill Clinton," will report that Powell, who served under former President George W. Bush, did encourage Clinton to use a personal email, albeit not for classified information. According to Conason:

Toward the end of the evening, over dessert, Albright asked all of the former secretaries to offer one salient bit of counsel to the nation's next top diplomat. Powell told her to use her own email, as he had done, except for classified communications, which he had sent and received via a State Department computer.

A 2009 email obtained by the FBI from Clinton also revealed that she inquired about Powell's own email practices, although by that time she had already been using her own private email server, according to the Times.

In a statement issued by his office, Powell declined having any knowledge of the dinner Conason wrote about but did admit to emailing with Clinton:

He did write former Secretary Clinton an email memo describing his use of his personal AOL email account for unclassified messages and how it vastly improved communications within the State Department. At the time there was no equivalent system within the Department.

His office added, "He used a secure State computer on his desk to manage classified information."

House Republicans have asked the Department of Justice to investigate whether Clinton committed perjury during her testimony before Congress.

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