No Retrial for John Edwards

Via Politico:

The Justice Department has dropped its prosecution of former Sen. John Edwards over nearly $1 million in payments his backers made to support his pregnant mistress during the 2008 presidential campaign.

The formal dismissal of charges was filed in federal court in Greensboro, N.C., Wednesday, less than two weeks after Edwards's trial on the campaign finance-related charges ended with a jury deadlocked on five felony counts and voting to acquit him outright on one charge.

"We knew that this case — like all campaign finance cases — would be challenging. But it is our duty to bring hard cases when we believe that the facts and the law support charging a candidate for high office with a crime," Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division Lanny Breuer said in a statement. "Last month, the government put forward its best case against Mr. Edwards, and I am proud of the skilled and professional way in which our prosecutors from the Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina conducted this trial."

See our previous coverage of scumbag (but not felon) Edwards.