The Democratic party was in turmoil on Sunday afternoon, when just hours ahead of the Democratic National Convention which begins on Monday on Philadelphia, the chair of the Party - DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz - resigned amid a furor over the humiliating Wikileaks email release, hoping to head off a growing rebellion by Bernie Sanders.

In a statement, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz said the best way for the party to accomplish its goal of putting Clinton in the White House was for her to step down. Sanders had demanded earlier in the day that Wasserman Schultz resign.

"Going forward, the best way for me to accomplish those goals is to step down as Party Chair at the end of this convention," Wasserman Schultz said in a lengthy statement Sunday announcing her resignation. "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."

"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 added.

Wasserman Schultz had became toxic to supporters of Bernie Sanders, who accused her rigging the Democratic presidential nominating process in favor of Clinton. But many Democrats had privately lost confidence in her leadership as well. Emails posted online by Wikileaks and apparently stolen by hackers allegedly working for the Russian government (who as we noted earlier thoroughly denied such allegations) showed a plot by Democratic officials to damage Sanders.

The furor was a blow to a party keen on projecting stability in contrast to the volatility of the Republican National Convention. According to some, the DNC is now on pace to be far more scandalous than anything the republicans could have come up with, while the number of Bernie Sanders protesters overshadows the protesters that had attended the RNC in Celveland .



And in a shocking 'beyond caring what the average joe thinks' move, Hillary Clinton announced that Debbie Wasserman Schultz will serve as an honorary chair on Clinton's campaign, almost as if she is doing her best to provoke Bernie Sanders fans.

Hillary Clinton thanked her "longtime friend" Debbie Wasserman Schultz after the Florida congresswoman's decision to step down as chair of the Democratic National Committee.

"I am grateful to Debbie for getting the Democratic Party to this year's historic convention in Philadelphia, and I know that this week's events will be a success thanks to her hard work and leadership," she said. "There's simply no one better at taking the fight to the Republicans than Debbie--which is why I am glad that she has agreed to serve as honorary chair of my campaign's 50-state program to gain ground and elect Democrats in every part of the country, and will continue to serve as a surrogate for my campaign nationally, in Florida, and in other key states."

Her full statement::

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Earlier:

As ABC reports, Clinton responded after Wasserman Schultz agreed to step down as chair at the end of this week's Democratic National Convention.The move came after the publication last week of some 19,000 hacked emails, some of which suggested the DNC was favoring Clinton during the primary season.

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As we detailed earlier, it seem Bernie Sanders has the last laugh, following a CNN report that his archnesmsis, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, is resigning as chair at the end of the Democratic National Convention. The DNC's official statement makes no mention of her involvement in smears and collusion exposed by the Wikileaks emails.

As The Washington Post reports, she had faced growing pressure to resign Sunday in the aftermath of the release of thousands of embarrassing internal email exchanges among Democratic officials, an episode that has pitched the party into turmoil on the eve of a convention that was promised to showcase unity.

"I would ask her to step aside," David Axelrod, a former adviser to President Obama, said on CNN of Debbie Wasserman Schultz. "I would ask her to step aside, because she's a distraction on a week that is Hillary Clinton's week." Other senior Democrats echoed that sentiment, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive internal matter. These Democrats indicated that the Clinton campaign would like the resignation to come Sunday.

And sure enough...

JUST IN: Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz will step down after the upcoming DNC pic.twitter.com/XGyIrUVOPA — CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) July 24, 2016

Full Statement:

"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. 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. "I've been proud to serve as the first woman nominated by a sitting president as Chair of the Democratic National Committee and I am confident that the strong team in place will lead our party effectively through this election to elect Hillary Clinton as our 45th president."

Her replacement:

UPDATE: DNC Vice Chair Donna Brazile will serve as Interim Chair through the election after Debbie Wasserman Schultz steps down — CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) July 24, 2016

Meanwhile, Bernie finally finds peace ...

... although we doubt his supporters will be delighted that DWS is about to remain in Hillary's pocket as the "honorary chair" on her committee.

So, "Putin wins"... if only according to the failed attempt to redirect the narrative to the "Russian hack" of the DNC Servers.