Outgoing Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D., Fla.) said Monday afternoon she would not gavel the party’s convention to order.
"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," Wasserman Schultz told the Sun Sentinel during a phone interview hours before she was set to open the nominating event.
The Florida congresswoman announced Sunday that she was resigning as committee chair amid fallout from an email leak suggesting the DNC favored Hillary Clinton over Sen. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) during the primary election. Wasserman Schultz is expected to step down after the Democratic convention in Philadelphia this week.
Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the secretary of the DNC, will replace Wasserman Schultz during the convention.
Wasserman Shultz told the Sun Sentinel that the convention should focus on "making sure that everyone knows that Hillary Clinton would make the best president."
Her decision to step down from gaveling the nominating convention came hours after she was booed and heckled while speaking before the Florida delegation Monday morning.
The FBI said it was investigating the DNC’s email breach. Clinton’s campaign has claimed the party’s server was hacked by Russians attempting to benefit Donald Trump.
"A compromise of this nature is something we take very seriously," the FBI said in a statement.