Debbie Wasserman Schultz: Will Not Gavel at DNC in Philadelphia |

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

She abruptly canceled 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."

On Sunday afternoon, Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced that she will resign from her leadership position at the end of her party's convention in Philadelphia this week.

"Going forward, the best way for me to accomplish those goals is to step down as Party Chair at the end of this convention. As Party Chair, this week I will open and close the Convention and I will address our delegates about the stakes involved in this election not only for Democrats, but for all Americans," Wasserman Schultz, a congresswoman from Florida, said in a statement.

Luis Miranda, the communications director at the DNC announced on Twitter that DNC Vice Chairwoman Donna Brazile will serve as interim chair through the election in November. Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio, will gavel each session to order and will gavel each session closed, a source told CBS News.

Wasserman Schultz has served as DNC chairwoman for more than five years and was the first woman nominated by a sitting president to that position.

For the rest of the 2016 presidential race, she said that she will serve as a surrogate to Hillary Clinton's campaign for the general election in Florida and across the U.S.

"We have planned a great and unified Convention this week and I hope and expect that the DNC team that has worked so hard to get us to this point will have the strong support of all Democrats in making sure this is the best convention we have ever had," she said.

This comes after 20,000 leaked emails brought into question the impartiality of the Democratic primary process.

Sanders had reportedly pushed for a reduced role for her during the convention and he has persistently complained that Wasserman Schultz and the DNC had rigged the primary election for Hillary Clinton.

On Sunday morning, he said it was time for her leadership at the DNC to end.

"I think she should resign, period," Sanders said on ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on "This Week."

"I told you a long time ago that the DNC was not running a fair operation, that they were supporting Secretary Clinton," Sanders said. "So what I suggested to be true six months ago turned out to be true."

The WikiLeaks emails were released the same day as Clinton -- who has been plagued by her own email scandal on the campaign trail -- announced her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia. The thousands of emails reveal possible DNC favoritism toward Hillary Clinton, with officials ridiculing Sanders' supporters and even questioning his commitment to his Jewish faith.

DNC Chief Financial Officer Brad Marshall wrote one email in May saying, "It might may no difference, but for KY and WVA can we get someone to ask his belief. Does he believe in a God. He had skated on saying he has a Jewish heritage. I think I read he is an atheist. This could make several points difference with my peeps."

On CNN's "State of the Union," Sanders briefly addressed the questioning of his faith by some in the DNC.

"I am not an atheist," he told host Jake Tapper. "But aside from all of that, I mean, it is an outrage and sad that you would have people in important positions in the DNC trying to undermine my campaign. It goes without saying the function of the DNC is to represent all of the candidates, to be fair and even-minded."

The identity of the hackers remains unclear, but Clinton campaign officials say agents of the Russian government hacked the emails and have been leaking them in support of Donald Trump's campaign.