Colin Powell rejected Hillary Clinton's assertion to the FBI that he had advised her during a 2009 dinner party to use a personal email account.

"General Powell has no recollection of the dinner conversation," the former secretary of state's office said in a statement Friday.

"He did write 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," his statement said.

Powell's office argued there was "no equivalent system" in the agency at the time he served as the nation's chief diplomat.

Clinton's mention of Powell came in an interview with the FBI last month about her unauthorized use of a personal email network that was housed in her basement. The revelation came to light after the FBI provided notes from its closed investigative file to Congress.

In her interview, Clinton said Powell had suggested she use a personal email account during a gathering hosted by Madeleine Albright at the outset of her tenure.