Smoke & mirrors: Bubba camp denies Cup story

THE U.S. and its honorary chairman of the 2022 World Cup bid had many reasons to be frustrated by the results of the scandalous voting process, but former president Bill Clinton did not take it out on his hotel mirror, according to his spokesman.

A report Tuesday from the U.K. cast Clinton’s anger as an inspiration to uncover the truth about the World Cup voting in Zurich four years ago, quoting a “wellplaced source” who said the New York resident was “fuming” because Qatar won the bid over the U.S under suspicious circumstances.

According to the report, Clinton, who had toured the world for two years trying to garner votes for the U.S. bid, picked up an ornament in his Zurich hotel suite and used it to shatter the mirror.

“The (report) is obviously false,” Clinton’s spokesman, Matt McKenna, told the Daily News.

Rage would’ve been more understandable today given the evidence of corruption that has recently come to light, including the alleged $5 million that former Qatari official Mohamed Bin Hammam used to bribe voters.

Bin Hammam reportedly channeled the money through secret slush funds, and bribed Thailand with a deal to deliver it natural gas from Qatar. The circumstances are being looked into by former U.S. attorney Michael Garcia, who gained fame by heading the federal investigation against Eliot Spitzer in 2008 — the one that unearthed Spitzer’s dealings with a high-priced escort service.

The FIFA-appointed Garcia has set a deadline of June 9 to complete his investigation into the World Cup bid, and reportedly won’t have time to go through the millions of documents obtained by the London Sunday Times. Those documents have led to the new wave of corruption allegations, but Garcia — who worked under George W. Bush and prosecuted Al Qaeda terrorists, had been already been conducting an investigation before the London Sunday Times report.

“After months of interviewing witnesses and gathering materials, we intend to complete that phase of our investigation by 9 June 2014, and to submit a report to the adjudicatory chamber approximately six weeks thereafter,” Garcia said. “The report will consider all evidence potentially related to the bidding process, including evidence collected from prior investigations.”

There is already lobbying for a revote of the 2022 World Cup bid if Garcia’s report concludes corruption. That would place the U.S. in a strong position to host the tournament, providing vindication for Clinton and the other bid ambassadors — including Brad Pitt, Spike Lee and Arnold Schwarzenegger — four years later.