Debbie Wasserman Schultz won’t gavel in DNC day after resigning

Outgoing Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman says she won’t gavel her party’s national convention to order on Monday afternoon.

She abruptly cancelled that plan just a few hours before she was to gavel open the nominating convention. In a brief phone conversation with the Sun Sentinel newspaper of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Wasserman Schultz said: “I have decided that in the interest of making sure that we can start the Democratic convention on a high note that I am not going to gavel in the convention.”

The Florida congresswoman had announced she would resign her post at the helm of the DNC in the wake of an email scandal involving her aides – but still gavel open and closed the Democrats’ nominating convention this week. That was before she was booed and heckled as she spoke to her home state delegation from people angry that the hacked emails apparently showed some aides favored Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders in the party’s presidential primary.

She added in her comments to the newspaper: “This needs to be all about making sure that everyone knows that Hillary Clinton would make the best president.”

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This is a developing story. Here’s an earlier story from ABC News about Wasserman Schultz attending the Florida delegation’s breakfast this morning in Philadelphia:

The crowd booed Debbie Wasserman Schultz when she started addressing a delegation breakfast this morning in Philadelphia, the morning after she announced that she would resign as the chair of the Democratic National Committee.

An event organizer had to actively try and quiet the crowd’s boos before Wasserman Schultz began speaking.

She started by bringing up the deadly shooting in Fort Myers, Florida, but the boos continued before she eventually acknowledged her resignation.

“I can see there’s a little bit of interest in my being here, and I can appreciate that interest,” she said.

Later today, Wasserman Schultz is slated to gavel in the Democratic convention in Philadelphia even though her role has been dramatically reduced after WikiLeaks released emails last week that allegedly showed DNC staffers conspiring against Sen. Bernie Sanders’ presidential bid.

Wasserman Schultz said she spoke with both President Obama and Hillary Clinton yesterday.

“I thank President Obama for the honor of serving as the chair of the Democratic National Committee and being able to watch his back and bring him across the finish line in 2012,” Wasserman Schultz said.

She added: “I also had the privilege of speaking to Hillary Clinton and she thanked me for my service. We had a wonderful conversation. She asked me and I committed to her that I would serve as a surrogate throughout this campaign.”

While her role at the convention this week may be diminished, she made it clear that she does not intend to shy away from the campaign trail, saying that the public “will see me every day” between now and the election.”