Colin Powell's representatives reportedly say the former secretary of state has "no recollection" of a conversation in which he was said to have advised Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to use a personal email for all but classified communications while in office.

The conversation has taken on new significance in light of a report in the New York Times that said Clinton told the FBI that Powell had advised her to use private email as secretary of state. Clinton served as secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 for President Barack Obama, while Powell served in that capacity for President George W. Bush from 2001 to 2005.

In an upcoming book, "Man of the World: The Further Endeavors of Bill Clinton," journalist Joe Conason recounts a 2009 dinner party hosted by former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and attended by Henry Kissinger and Condoleezza Rice at which Powell was said to have told Clinton to use private email.

"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,” Conason wrote, according to an advanced copy of the book obtained by The Times. "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."

Reached for comment by CNN, Powell's principal assistant, Peggy Cifrino, said the former four-star general had "no recollection" of the conversation described in the book but said he did send Clinton a memo outlining his use of a personal email account for material that was not classified.