United States Attorney Zachary Cunha announced his immediate resignation on Monday as as United States Attorney for the District of Rhode Island. He was notified by the White House that he had been directed to do so by President Trump.
Cunha had previously submitted a letter of resignation to the President and the Attorney General on February 7, stating his intention to step down at the end of this week.
“I am deeply grateful to Senators Reed and Whitehouse for recommending my nomination to the White House, and to President Biden for his trust and confidence in appointing me to serve this extraordinary District and its citizens as United States Attorney,” Cunha said in a statement. “I have worked hard every day to live up to the example of excellence set by my thirty-eight distinguished predecessors over the 235-year history of this Office, and it has been the honor of my career to do this job.”
Cunha served for three years as United States Attorney. During that time, he was proud of the work done by the office, including prosecuting the largest illegal pill seizure in America, and suing the nation’s largest pharmacy chain for its culpability in creating the opioid epidemic. As U.S. Attorney, he was honored to serve on the Attorney General’s Advisory Committee with colleagues from across the country, advising senior leadership on policy matters.
Cunha took the oath of office on December 13, 2021. Before becoming U.S. Attorney, he was an assistant United States attorney in the Eastern District of New York and the District of Massachusetts. He was chief of the Civil Division in the District of Rhode Island and chief and deputy chief of affirmative civil enforcement in the District of Massachusetts.
Cunha’s statement in full follows below;
“I am deeply grateful to Senators Reed and Whitehouse for recommending my nomination to the White House, and to President Biden for his trust and confidence in appointing me to serve this extraordinary District and its citizens as United States Attorney. I have worked hard every day to live up to the example of excellence set by my thirty-eight distinguished predecessors over the 235-year history of this Office, and it has been the honor of my career to do this job.
Over the three years that I have had the high privilege to serve as U.S. Attorney, it has been my constant goal to make sure that the work of this District punched far above the weight that our compact geography and small staff might imply. By every measure, the men and women of this Office have met that goal, again and again, across every category in which we prosecute and litigate on behalf of the people of the Ocean State.
In the face of a persistent opioid crisis, and the scourge of fentanyl that has cost countless lives, this Office prosecuted the largest illegal pill seizure in the United States, and brought suit against the nation’s largest pharmacy chain for creating a culture of noncompliance that allowed countless improper opioid prescriptions to flow out into our communities. Recognizing the complexity of this crisis, we have prosecuted criminals who prey on our neighbors struggling in recovery, while at the same time partnering with public health authorities to make sure that those same vulnerable victims have access to the care they need, and we have worked tirelessly to present an innovative, effective, and impactful anti-opioids education program in schools and community settings across Rhode Island.
At the same time, we have worked relentlessly to bring fraudsters to justice, because their crimes have devastating impacts on our family, friends, neighbors, towns and businesses. We have likewise remained focused on holding businesses and corporations who commit crimes accountable, and have worked to protect the federal taxpayer from fraud, waste, and abuse, including by ensuring that those who serve our nation in uniform are not put at risk by shoddy and counterfeit gear. And, because every American deserves safe and secure communities, we have taken a firm stand against violent crime, bringing the serious charges against those responsible for bringing the most deadly illegal weapons into our communities, while proceeding with resolve and fierce determination against those who prey on our most vulnerable community members: our children. This Office’s civil rights work stood up to ensure that every Rhode Islander can access fair lending and to ensure that children with behavioral disabilities have the chance to receive care in their communities, rather than spending months of isolation in a locked hospital ward; and we have stood resolute against acts of hatred and violence directed against our communities of faith, race, or ethnicity, while hosting more than fifteen United Against Hate conversations with over 800 of our fellow citizens across the state.
In these, and countless other areas, the men and women of the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island exemplify excellence in public service: acting always with integrity, in the best traditions of this Office and the Department of Justice, and driven by precisely those qualities that Attorney General Robert H. Jackson impeccably distilled, over eight decades ago, as the defining traits of a first-rate prosecutor: the ability to “temper() zeal with human kindness, (the determination to) seek() truth and not victims, (the unwavering commitment to) … serve() the law and not factional purposes, and(, above all) (a resolution to) approach() (the) task with humility.”
I am profoundly proud of their work, and deeply humbled to have served with them.”
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) assisted a What’sUpNewp journalist with the reporting included in this story.