Ex-party leader ‘proud of team’

Debbie Wasserman Schultz admits it’s been ‘a difficult week.’

PHILADELPHIA — After resigning under pressure as Democratic National Committee chairwoman and being booed and jeered by protesters at a delegate breakfast from her home state of Florida, Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz conceded Thursday that it’s been “a difficult week.”

But Wasserman Schultz vowed to win a tough Aug. 30 primary and work to elect Hillary Clinton and other Democrats in November. After keeping a low profile this week, she appeared at a National Jewish Democratic Council reception to receive an award.

“I just can’t thank you enough for being here for me,” Wasserman Schultz told the roughly 50 attendees at the reception.

“This has been a difficult week. There’s no question about it. But I am so proud of my team, some of whom are here, that helped put this together. From the convention team, to the Democratic National Committee staff, to all of the volunteers, to our donors, it has been a remarkable team effort,” she said. “And you know, sometimes, you just have to take one for the team. And that’s OK. It’s OK. I have the most amazing family.”

Wasserman Schultz, long accused by Bernie Sanders and his supporters of favoring Hillary Clinton in the primary season, was pushed to resign after hacked emails leaked Sunday showed DNC officials undermining Sanders and helping Clinton.

She announced Sunday that she would step down as chairwoman after the convention.

Wasserman Schultz was scheduled to pound the gavel to open the convention Monday afternoon, but she relinquished even that duty after attending a Florida delegation breakfast that morning and being loudly booed by Sanders supporters, some of whom held signs that said “E-MAILS.”

With some security experts suggesting that Russians broke into the DNC emails, Wasserman Schultz blasted Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump for suggesting — sarcastically, according to Trump — that the Russians hack Clinton’s emails to find the ones she deemed personal and deleted from the private server she used for official business as secretary of state.

“This is a man who...encouraged the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton’s campaign’s emails. I mean, encouraged a foreign actor to engage in espionage,” Wasserman Schultz said.

When a few people chuckled, she said: “It isn’t the least bit funny. I can personally attest to how not funny it is. No, I’m not kidding. We were hacked by Russian espionage organizations. And for a presidential candidate to encourage that to happen again? It’s treasonous. It’s seditious.”