The US Senate held a panel hearing to discuss the ongoing corruption issues within CONCACAF and FIFA, soccer’s world governing body. FIFA President Sepp Blatter and United States Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati both declined the invitation.

The USSF was represented by CEO and Secretary General Dan Flynn, who failed to answer why Gulati declined the invitation. Also in attendance was Michael Hershman, a former FIFA independent governance committee member from 2011 to 2013, British investigative journalist Andrew Jennings responsible for bringing the FIFA corruption to light, and Amnesty International official Sunjeev Bery.

The panel was primarily concerned with US Soccer and their knowledge or lack of knowledge regarding the recent FIFA corruption scandal. “The fact of the matter is that what has been revealed so far is a mafia style crime syndicate in charge of this sport. My only hesitation in using that term is that it’s almost insulting to the mafia. Because the mafia would never have been so blatant, overt and arrogant in its corruption,” said US Senator Richard Blumenthal in his opening statement.

Flynn said he, nor anybody he worked with, had any ‘cold hard facts’ regarding corruption within FIFA or CONCACAF.

“There were moments I would describe, if I had a level of discomfort I would not participate. I would just get myself out of any situation that offered any level of discomfort to me,” he said when asked about whether he had a suspicions towards corruption within CONCACAF.

At one point during the panel, Flynn leaned back from his microphone for 15 seconds to speak with a colleague, then expressed that he felt a certain level of discomfort in daily dealings with Jack Warner. Flynn stated that the feeling was due to how Warner ran meetings and conducted votes, using hand votes rather than a secret ballot.

Flynn’s mentioned that changes had already been performed and would continue to be performed in response to what could've been done to reform FIFA and CONCACAF. Pulling out of FIFA all together would have larger ramifications, both economically and with the future success of soccer in the United States.

Flynn also said they would work with other nations and federations to reform the hierarchy of FIFA, suggesting that the USSF could not reform FIFA by itself.

Jennings spoke aggressively against the USSF, calling US Soccer officials ‘cowards’ and ‘gutless.’ “When the US Olympic committee realized it had a massive moral problem over its relationship with the crooks at the International Olympic committee, they didn’t go and ask anyone else. You don’t have to go and ask the rest of the world ‘is it alright if we have an inquiry into our own people?’ Please! I find this very dispiriting about this view of America as being ‘gutless’ because that’s what’s being suggested,” he said.

Jennings went on to suggest that FIFA was beyond saying, that it was completely unsalvageable. “Salvageable? No. Not at all. The corruption is so deeply imbedded that if you cut the head off the snake the rest will still be wiggling about.

“America has to, with its moral values, join with other countries with similar moral values and just say, ‘you stay there in Zurich, we’re out of here. We are not going to be contaminated by sitting at your meetings with a bunch of organized crimes experts," he continued.

Jennings believes the USSF is trying to reform FIFA and CONCACAF the wrong way. “You don’t go to John Goti and say ‘Mr. Goti you know there’s too much heroin on the streets of New York. Could you cut back on it a bit? Oh, thank you. A couple of keys come off the street. Well that’s alright. That’s not how you dealt with it with the mafia in Boston is it? You went after them,” he said.

Blatter’s resignation was described as a farce by Jennings, proclaiming that, according to his inquiries, there are no Congress facilities booked for the rest of the year by FIFA in Zurich.

“He’s going to stay there and wait for us all to get tired and go away. It’s always worked in the past,” he said.

Jennings offered a simple solution. The US should walk away with FIFA, and that other countries would follow suit. “You can walk away. Or your cowards, you’re weak and you have no perspective of the world,” he stated.

Flynn answered questions regarding the discrepancies between the men and women’s World Cup winnings and league salaries. He also said Canada was the only country to bid for the 2015 Women’s World Cup, stipulating that all games would be played on artificial turf.