"I’m not a rock thrower in all this," Johnson told Post columnist Ruth Marcus. "I mean, so many others devote their lives to this stuff, and I'll let them devote their lives to this stuff. Bill has said all along that he’s never thought Hillary Clinton was criminal in any of these actions. For me, I’d rather be talking about grocery insurance."

Weld, a veteran of the Justice Department, said that "justice was served" when Comey declined to pursue the case but explained to reporters that Clinton had acted irresponsibly.

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"I thought that was correct," Weld said. "I’ve been saying for a couple of months that I didn’t see any evidence of criminal intent on the part of Secretary Clinton. There’s a book in the Justice Department called 'The Principles of Federal Prosecution.' And under those principles, a prosecutor should not file charges unless that person’s convinced that the admissible evidence can obtain, and sustain on appeal, a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt from a reasonable and unbiased jury. I didn’t see that in all the verbiage that Mr. Comey put out there."

Later, speaking at a media luncheon at the National Press Club, Johnson and Weld worked through their policy ideas but declined to get into the Clinton story.

"I ran two campaigns for governor of New Mexico and never mentioned my opponent in any TV ad, any print ad," Johnson said. "People are hungry to vote for someone, instead of just the lesser of two evils."

Still, the unpopularity of Donald Trump and Clinton — who has been damaged by the email investigation — are major reasons why Johnson and Weld poll in the high single digits or low double digits. At the National Press Club, asked whether they were worried about "spoiling" the election, they both laughed it off with a joke about the grim two-party choice facing voters.

"Spoil what?" asked Weld.