Weld, who has known Clinton since the two of them were attorneys in the 1970s, has frequently re-emerged as one of her most surprising quasi-surrogates. At high-profile moments, like the first of two CNN town hall meetings to promote the Libertarian ticket, Weld has passed on chances to criticize the Democratic nominee. Last week, he reiterated that he feared a Trump victory in November more than a Clinton one. “Donald Trump, if elected president of the United States, would not be able to stand up to this pressure and this criticism without becoming unhinged and unable to perform competently the duties of his office,” said Weld.

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But Monday's CNN hit, which found an animated Weld making air quotes with his hands as he discussed the public servants leaking damaging Clinton info, was one of his most robust defenses of the Democratic nominee. “There's no way for Mrs. Clinton to learn what the evidentiary basis is, for which they made this update,” he said. “I think [FBI] Director Comey did the right thing in July by concluding that no reasonable prosecutor would bring charges.”

Gary Johnson, Weld's running mate who has fallen back in the polls, had a very different reaction to the news that the FBI was expanding a probe into disgraced ex-representative Anthony Weiner to fish for more Clinton-connected email. When the news broke that the FBI had informed Congress that it would look into potentially “pertinent” emails. Johnson was off to the races, telling an audience in Cincinnati that “a law school graduate would likely not be able to get a license to practice law if he or she was under investigation by the FBI.” (Clinton was not facing an active FBI investigation.)

“We are days away from the possibility of having a candidate elected commander in chief for whom almost any sensitive position in government or the private sector would be out of reach,” Johnson said.

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Weld's departure from that line was in keeping with months of defending Clinton, and doing so by citing his experience as a federal prosecutor. Weld's tone has also stoked rumors that he would endorse Clinton outright if he felt that he was splitting votes and enabling a Trump win. Multiple times, the campaign has attacked the rumor-mongering by blaming it on “the Democratic Media Machine” and its dupes.