WASHINGTON, D.C.—Other than Jurgen Klinsmann, the U.S. men’s national team coach, Dan Flynn is the U.S. Soccer Federation's highest-paid employee.

Yesterday, he earned every penny of it. Not because he did anything particularly noble, but because he took a ton of abuse on behalf of his boss and the organization they both work for.

Flynn’s title is secretary general and CEO and his job description has him in charge of the day-to-day operations of the USSF’s Chicago headquarters. But yesterday, he could add another line to his resume: piñata. 

Flynn was summoned to Washington to testify before the U.S. Senate’s Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, Insurance, and Data Security, which was looking into the FIFA corruption scandal, the horrid conditions for laborers in Qatar building the infrastructure for the 2022 World Cup, any role U.S. Soccer may have had in either situation, and what they could do about it going forward. 

The subcommittee is supposedly tasked with overseeing “sport” in the United States—a rather nebulous description—and given the many social issues associated with sports in this country it seemed a little odd they’d choose U.S. Soccer to set their sights on.

The subcommittee’s first choice to speak on the corruption scandal was U.S. Soccer president and FIFA executive committee member Sunil Gulati, but he refused to attend. The witnesses were not subpoenaed yesterday and participation was voluntary. Gulati opted not to volunteer.

Initially, sources said, U.S. Soccer didn’t want anyone from the organization to attend but were finally cajoled by the Senate to send Flynn.

The former star at Saint Louis University reportedly makes more than $600,000 per year and he’s got a strong case for a big raise after being the whipping boy yesterday. Mostly it was subcommittee chairman Jerry Moran (R-Kansas) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), the ranking minority member, who took turns swinging away at Flynn, peppering him with questions about what he and the USSF knew about the corruption in FIFA and CONCACAF as well as the working conditions in Qatar. 

Even fellow witness Andrew Jennings, the Hobbit-like British journalist who has blown the whistle on FIFA corruption in the past, took a few swings at Flynn and the USSF.

“U.S. Soccer had to know,” he said.

To his credit, Flynn kept it together. But there were moments he seemed to be ready to break. The packed gallery of onlookers in the Senate’s Russell office building at times resembled kids at a party waiting to pounce on the candy when it is spilled from a piñata.

With the hearing held on a busy day in which there were lots of votes on the Senate floor, few of the subcommittees' 10 members attended the hearing and never were there more than three in the room at a time. Besides Moran and Blumenthal, the only other senators to ask questions of the witnesses were Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) and Steve Daines (R-Montana).  

Moran raised the classic Washington scandal chestnut dating back to Watergate, asking Flynn “what did U.S. Soccer know… and what should it have known?” about FIFA and CONCACAF corruption.

Flynn's Sgt. Schultz-like response:  “I knew nothing about any corruption.”

Blumenthal didn’t seem to be buying this explanation, saying “there had to be either willful ignorance or blatant incompetence,” on behalf of U.S. Soccer officials to not know about the rampant corruption within FIFA. 

When pressed, Flynn admitted to sometimes feeling a “level of discomfort” when dealing with the likes of former CONCACAF officials Jack Warner of Trinidad and American Chuck Blazer, both of whom were among the 13 indicted by the Justice Department in May. But Flynn testified that minus any actual “cold facts” there was little he or anyone else at U.S. Soccer could do.

The biggest moment of tension came when Blumenthal pressed Flynn about why U.S. Soccer didn’t do more and Flynn seemed lost for an answer, taking a long pause before pulling another inside the beltway tradition: consulting with outside counsel.

After some whispers were exchanged, he offered this:

“I was aware of some level of discomfort but it was all a general feeling. So, I had no hard evidence and we wanted to continue to participate in trying to influence (FIFA) as one of 209 members. The second choice we have is to opt out and to pull out and, with that, comes a series of ramifications. We no longer have a seat at the table. We no longer are allowed into competitions … and it has far-ranging ramifications for U.S. Soccer and the business model of soccer in our country, in which we have … invested hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions of dollars, building the sport over the last 20 years."

Blumenthal still didn’t seem mollified and suggested an alternative would have been for the federation to "begin asking questions, begin an inquiry, begin shining a light, begin blowing a whistle."

When pressed about why the U.S. didn’t do more, Flynn conceded that the federation opted to play ball with the likes of Blazer and Warner rather than follow-up on what was causing the “level of discomfort” because "we had other things to do to help build our sport."

And that’s it right there. For all Flynn’s pausing and squirming, all the verbal blows he absorbed, ultimately he admitted the truth, even if he didn’t mean to.

Through the years U.S. Soccer has gotten myriad CONCACAF events hosted in the U.S., helping promote the sport here and line their pockets, as well as CONCACAF’s, while also giving the U.S. a competitive home-field advantage. Looking the other way rather than “shining a light” or “blowing a whistle” was better for U.S. Soccer’s bottom line.

So what happens now in terms of U.S. Soccer and the Senate? Will there be more hearings? Will the subcommittee use its subpoena power and compel Gulati to testify? Will it summon Sepp Blatter, who, as a foreign citizen isn’t obligated to comply with a subpoena (and likely wouldn’t) but who would make FIFA look even worse by being a no-show?

Clearly Blumenthal has made U.S. Soccer conduct a point of interest. Last month he very publically criticized Gulati for the way he and U.S. Soccer handled Hope Solo in the light of her domestic abuse arrest. And yesterday he asked the hardest questions, made the most caustic statements, and seemed the most annoyed that Gulati was a no-show. (There’s no lack of irony that Gulati was raised in the state Blumenthal represents.)

Blumenthal implied this was the first of many hearings. Fortunately for Flynn and Gulati, the Senate’s procedural rules mean hearings are ultimately called by the chairman, not its ranking minority member, which means more hearings are ultimately Moran’s call. 

Will there be follow-ups?

“I don’t know the answer to that yet,” Moran told American Soccer Now after yesterday’s hearing. “I think we’ll analyze what we learned today and see what steps are useful and look to eliminate a lack of change that may occur. More hearings will be determined by what happens at FIFA and U.S. Soccer now and in the future.

"We’ll analyze what we heard today and then reach a conclusion as to what steps are necessary in regard to additional hearings or questions we may ask the witnesses in writing.”

In other words, U.S. Soccer needs to demonstrate they are doing more than going along to get along when it comes to corruption. The days of not “shining a light” on the corruption are over—unless Flynn, and perhaps Gulati, want to testify under oath at some point down the road. 

Flynn told the subcommittee that U.S. Soccer recently hired an outside agency to audit and examine how the federation conducts its own business and pushed through widespread reforms at CONCACAF. That’s a good start, but in terms of policing FIFA and CONCACAF, it’s clear the United States Senate expects more from the USSF.

After the hearing Flynn refused to answer reporters' questions, beating tracks down the hall. He fulfilled his role as federation punching bag but he and his boss now have a very bright spotlight shining on them—a spotlight that possesses considerably more power than a few corrupt honchos at CONCACAF or FIFA ever did.

Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. Follow him on Twitter.