The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it will not retry John Edwards, two weeks after a federal judge declared a mistrial in his high-profile corruption case. 

The department formally abandoned its prosecution of the former Democratic presidential candidate by filing an "order for dismissal" earlier Wednesday in U.S. District Court in North Carolina. The motion dismissed the remaining five counts against Edwards on which the jury had been deadlocked. Edwards was already found not guilty on one other count. 

In a statement, Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer said the government has decided not to retry Edwards "in the interest of justice." He defended his department's decision to prosecute the case, though. 

"We knew that this case -- like all campaign finance cases -- would be challenging," he said. "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.