Hillary Clinton told FBI investigators last month that Colin Powell, another former secretary of state, advised her to rely on a private email address for all her nonclassified communications.

The claim was revealed in notes provided to Congress by the FBI this week, according to a report by the New York Times.

Clinton also told the author of a forthcoming book about her husband that Powell had attested to the benefits of private email use during a 2009 dinner party at the home of Madeleine Albright. However, Powell's office has said he has no memory of that conversation.

The FBI's documents, which are mostly classified or otherwise redacted, included an email chain from the early months of Clinton's tenure in which the Democratic nominee reached out to Powell for more information about his email practices.

Congressional Republicans requested the FBI files from a year-long investigation into Clinton's use of a personal server after they were left unsatisfied by the bureau's explanation of its decision to clear her of criminal wrongdoing.

Democrats, however, have accused GOP lawmakers of embarking on a partisan witch-hunt for details from the documents that could be selectively leaked in an unflattering light.

Clinton has frequently pointed to the private email use of her Republican predecessor to justify her own communications practices.

However, Powell only sent two private emails that were retroactively classified at the lowest levels, while Clinton sent more than 1,000 emails that were either retroactively classified or that should have been marked classified at the time they were written.

What's more, Powell used a commercial account, while Clinton set up an elaborate private network and operated it out of the basement of her home.