'Quarantined' Wasserman Schultz Will Not Gavel in Democratic Convention

Debra Heine | 1:38 PM on July 25, 2016

DNC Chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., waves to the Florida delegation at a breakfast, Monday, July 25, 2016, in Philadelphia, during the first day of the Democratic National Convention. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Outgoing DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz will not gavel in the Democratic convention this afternoon as originally planned.

The decision was made after the embattled Florida congresswoman was booed off the stage by enraged Bernie supporters at her state’s delegation breakfast this morning.

Via NBC News:

In an interview with the Sun-Sentinel she 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 anger over leaked emails showing DNC officials plotting against the primary campaign of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders boiled over Monday as Wasserman-Schultz was greeted by boos and jeers at her home state’s breakfast meeting. Later, Bernie Sanders spoke to a raucous crowd of delegates supporting his candidacy which reacted with boos when he urged them to support Clinton’s election this fall.

A Democrat source told CNN yesterday that Wasserman Schultz had been “quarantined” due to the disastrously timed email leak, but after this morning’s Florida delegation breakfast fiasco some Clinton surrogates called for her to abandon her role at the convention entirely.

Ed Rendell, a top surrogate for Clinton, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, on Monday said he wouldn’t let Wasserman Schultz speak at the event.

“Well, let me preface it by saying I really like Debbie, but I wouldn’t,” he said Monday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” “I wouldn’t, No. 1, for her own good, because it’s going to get messy when she gets up there.

“She worked very hard, but she’s stubborn and she wants to see this thing through. I just think it’s wrong for her and it’s wrong for us.”

A Democratic operative told The Hill that “at this point the whole thing is just embarrassing.”

“The general consensus is that she needs to remove herself from the process. She needs to do it. The sooner the better — by 3. p.m. is what many people want to see.

It appears that the general consensus won the day.

“This is a big deal,” said MSNBC’s Tom Roberts.