--- title: Hillary Clinton: Colin Powell Told Her To Use Private Email description: Hillary Clinton told FBI investigators that former Secretary of State Colin Powell advised her to use a personal email account. canonical: https://time.com/4458847/hillary-clinton-fbi-colin-powell-email/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-08-19T12:17:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-07T06:43:38.577Z article:section: Politics og:title: Hillary Clinton: Colin Powell Told Her To Use Private Email og:description: Hillary Clinton told FBI investigators that former Secretary of State Colin Powell advised her to use a personal email account. og:url: https://time.com/4458847/hillary-clinton-fbi-colin-powell-email/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltccbd7b50292765ae/6988a280fb4eac1c0188ec0d/gettyimages-589997744.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6941 og:image:height: 3904 og:image:alt: Democratic Nominee for President of the United States former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hillary Clinton: Colin Powell Told Her To Use Private Email twitter:description: Hillary Clinton told FBI investigators that former Secretary of State Colin Powell advised her to use a personal email account. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltccbd7b50292765ae/6988a280fb4eac1c0188ec0d/gettyimages-589997744.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Report: Hillary Clinton Said Colin Powell Advised Her to Use Private Email Account > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=6645ad74-f6d8-4780-bc2f-f65c190d9364&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch Hillary Clinton Benghazi Hearing In Under 3 Minutes [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Hillary Clinton Benghazi Hearing In Under 3 Minutes](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/qmnkxqcZ.m3u8) (2:44)  _Published 2015-10-22. Watch Hillary Clinton Benghazi Hearing Highlights in 2 Minutes_  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 19, 2016 12:17 PM UTC Powell said his use of a private email account "vastly improved communications" at Foggy Bottom  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Aug 19, 2016 12:17 PM UTC Hillary Clinton told FBI investigators that former Secretary of State Colin Powell advised her to use a personal email account, according to a new report. The claim was included in notes given to Congress by the Federal Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday, [The New York _Times_ reports](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/19/us/politics/hillary-clinton-told-fbi-colin-powell-advised-her-to-use-private-email.html?%5Fr=0). Powell confirmed he did write Clinton an email talking about how his use of a personal email account “vastly improved communications within the State Department.” Clinton’s use of a private server to handle email has come under fierce scrutiny for potentially mishandling classified information. In July, after a lengthy investigation, [FBI director James Comey said](http://time.com/4393372/james-comey-fbi-hillary-clinton-email-speech-transcript/?iid=sr-link6) they found more than 100 emails that contained classified information at the time they were sent or received. While Comey [declined to recommend criminal charges against Clinton](http://time.com/4394178/hillary-clinton-email-fbi-investigation/?iid=sr-link1), he said the FBI found her and her colleagues to be “extremely careless in their handling of very sensitive, highly classified information.” A book by left-leaning author Joe Conason on Bill Clinton’s post-presidency includes a claim that Powell had given similar advice to Clinton at a dinner party early in her tenure, hosted by another former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright. “Albright asked all of the former secretaries to offer one salient bit of counsel to the nation’s next top diplomat,” Conason writes according to the _Times_, which obtained an advanced copy of the book. “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.” Powell, who served as Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005, released a statement Thursday saying he did not recall this conversation. ## Transcript Madame Secretary, I understand, there are people frankly in both parties who have suggested that this investigation is about you. Let me assure you it is not. It is time, it is time and it is time now, for the Republicans to end this tax payer funded fishing expedition. This pile, Represents the emails that you sent or received about Libya in 2011, from February through December of 2011. This pile represents the emails you sent or received from early 2012 until the day of the attack. There are 795 emails in this pile. We've counted them. There are 67 emails in this pile in 2012. And I'm troubled by what I see here. Well, Congresswoman, I did not conduct most of the business that I did on behalf of our country on email. I conducted it in meetings. I read massive amounts of memos, a great deal of classified information. I made a lot of secure phone calls, I was in and out of the White House all the time. If I'd been Mr. Stevens and I had a relationship with you, And I had requested 20 or more times for additional security to protect not only my life, but the people that were there with me. I would have gotten in touch with you some way. Did he even have your personal email? Congressman, I I do not believe that he had my personal email. He had the email and he had the direct line to everybody he that he'd worked with for years . >> At 11: 00 that night, approximately one hour after you told the American people it was a video, you say to your family, two officers were killed today in Benghazi by and Al Qaeda like. Group. 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