FIFA president Sepp Blatter said Saturday he was "shocked" at the way the US judiciary has targeted football's world body and slammed what he called a "hate" campaign by Europe's football leaders.Blatter said he suspected the arrest of seven FIFA officials this week under a US anti-corruption warrant was an attempt to "interfere with the congress" at which he was elected to a fifth term on Friday.
He also denied he was the FIFA official that US investigators say authorized a $10 million payment to a disgraced former FIFA vice president.
"There are signs which cannot be mistaken: the Americans were candidates for the 2022 World Cup and they lost," he told Swiss television channel RTS.
"I am not certain, but it doesn't smell good."
He also said the United States was the "number one sponsor" of Jordan, home country of his challenger for the FIFA presidency, Prince Ali bin al Hussein.
The Jordanian, who had the backing of European football body UEFA, withdrew from Friday's race after the first round of voting.
He also condemned comments about FIFA made by senior members of the US judiciary, including Attorney General Loretta Lynch, who lamented the "rampant, systemic and deep-rooted" corruption in football. Another official spoke of a "World Cup of fraud."
"Of course I am shocked," Blatter responded. "I would never as FIFA president make comments about another organisation without being certain of what has happened."
Blatter told a press conference Saturday he had been hurt by the corruption scandal.
"I have been affected by what has happened and I have been hurt by the attacks," he said.
He played down the significance of the attacks for FIFA and also denied having authorized a payment to disgraced former FIFA vice president Jack Warner, one of those indicted.
The US indictment says in 2008 a "high ranking FIFA official" authorized a 10 million dollar payment to Warner, a former head of the North and Central American confederation, which was money intended as a bribe.
Blatter said: "I don't go into these allegations. If such a thing is under investigation let it go (on) and definitely that's not me."
Blatter also hit out at UEFA and its president, Michel Platini, who had called for his resignation over the corruption scandals.
"It is a hate that comes not just from one person at UEFA, it comes from the UEFA organisation that cannot understand that in 1998 I became president," he added in the interview.
Asked whether he would forgive Platini, Blatter said "I forgive everyone but I do not forget."
His re-election marked a dramatic end to a bitter campaign dominated by corruption allegations.
Blatter vowed to leave a "strong" FIFA when he leaves in four years.
"I'm not perfect. Nobody is perfect. But we will do a good job together," he said.