Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz had an abysmal weekend, and Monday morning started out no better for her.
Her fellow Floridians loudly booed her when she spoke at her home state’s delegate breakfast Monday morning. And later the Democratic National Committee chairwoman confirmed she wouldn’t even gavel in the start of the convention this afternoon in Philadelphia.
In videos from the breakfast, protesters — some holding Bernie Sanders signs — shouted over Wasserman Schultz as she attempted to speak in favor of Hillary Clinton.
Protesters can be heard yelling, “you robbed us” and “shame” throughout her speech, while holding signs saying “Thanks for the help, Debbie” and “Emails.” Security also escorted her out after she spoke, as U.S. News’ Dave Catanese reported.
Wasserman Schultz acknowledged the protesters in her speech.
“We know that the voices in this room that are standing up and being disruptive — we know that that’s not the Florida we know,” she told the crowd. “The Florida that we know is united.”
Wasserman Schultz is under fire after leaked emails showed Democratic National Committee officials discussing ways to help Clinton defeat Sanders in the Democratic primaries. The controversy led to her Sunday announcement that she would resign after the convention and news that she would not have a major speaking role at the convention.
Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said Monday Wasserman Schultz still intended to gavel the convention into order Monday afternoon, but she told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that she was passing along those duties as well to Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the secretary of the DNC.
“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 told her local paper. “”I stepped down the other day because I wanted to make sure that having brought us to this momentous day and to Philadelphia and planned the convention that is going to be the best one that we’ve ever had in our party’s history that this needs to be all about making sure that everyone knows that Hillary Clinton would make the best president.”
Fellow Democrats criticized Wasserman Schultz — former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, himself a former DNC chairman, has said he wouldn’t have let her speak at the convention. One top Democratic official described Wasserman Schultz to CNN as “quarantined.”
Wasserman Schultz will be stepping down as DNC chair after the convention, but on Monday morning, she said she will maintain an active role as a Clinton campaign surrogate. On Sunday, Clinton said in a statement that she was appointing Wasserman Schultz as “honorary chair of my campaign’s 50-state program.”
“You will see me every day between now and Nov. 8 on the campaign trail,” Wasserman Schultz said, over shouts.
DNC Vice Chair Donna Brazile will take over as interim chair of the party after Wasserman Schultz steps down.
The scandal is an unwanted distraction as the Democratic Party tries to paint itself as paint itself as unified at the four-day convention.
NPR’s Jessica Taylor contributed.
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