Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch told investigators she did not ask former FBI Director James Comey to refer to the Hillary Clinton email review as a 'matter' instead of an 'investigation,' according to a transcript released Monday night.

Comey claimed in his 2017 sworn testimony that Lynch 'directed' him to call the investigation a 'matter' during a September 2015 meeting.

The transcript of Lynch's December 19, 2018 interview with a joint task force of the House Oversight and Judiciary committees, which was released by Judiciary ranking member Doug Collins, clashes with what Comey testified under oath.

'I did not. I have never instructed a witness as to what to say specifically. Never have, never will,' Lynch told the congressional investigators, according to the transcript.

It is not clear if Lynch is only denying specifically directing Comey on what to say in his sworn testimony, or if she is also denying telling him how to refer to the investigation publicly or to the press.

Former US Attorney General Loretta Lynch (center) denied telling Comey to downplay the email probe in a meeting back in September 2015

Former FBI Director James Comey claimed back in 2017 that Lynch 'directed' him to call the investigation a 'matter'

Lynch has been accused of helping stifle any investigations into Hillary Clinton’s emails in the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

The 2016 Democratic presidential candidate faced scrutiny over her use of a private email account to conduct State Department business during her time as Secretary of State under former President Barack Obama.

The incident involving Lynch and Comey took place in the midst of the Clinton email review in September 2015, before the hearing where Comey was asked about the investigation.

Comey said in his 2017 statements that he had been 'confused and concerned' by Lynch's request.

'The attorney general had directed me not to call it an investigation, but instead to call it a matter, which confused me and concerned me,' Comey testified, adding it was one of the reasons he decided to ‘step away from the department’ so the case could be credibly closed.

'The Clinton campaign, at the time, was using all kind of euphemisms - security review, matters, things like that, for what was going on,’ Comey continued.

Comey said he knew they were getting to a place in the investigation where they would both have to speak about it publicly.

In the months leading up to the 2016 presidential election Hillary Clinton faced scrutiny over her use of private email

‘And I wanted to know, was she going to authorize us to confirm we had an investigation?’ Comey said. ‘And she said, 'Yes, but don't call it that, call it a matter.' And I said, 'Why would I do that?' And she said, 'Just call it a matter.'’

When asked about Comey's 2017 statements on the meeting during the congressional investigation last December, Lynch said she had been 'surprised' by his testimony.

'I was quite surprised that he characterized it in that way,' Lynch said. 'We did have a conversation about it, so I wasn't surprised that he remembered that we met about it and talked about it.’

'But I was quite surprised that that was his characterization of it, because that was not how it was conveyed to him, certainly not how it was intended,’ she continued.

In July of 2016, Comey, announced the decision not to charge Clinton, even as he chided her for carelessness in her use of a private email server.

The Justice Department watchdog published a report in July last year branding Comey's actions 'insubordinate' and criticizing him for repeatedly breaking with Justice Department protocol in his handling of the email probe in the explosive final months of the 2016 presidential campaign.

Clinton’s server was subpoenaed by the State Department in the midst of the investigation, but before handing it over, more than 30,000 emails were wiped from the private server.