Top Republican demands DOJ appoint a special counsel to investigate Biden's ... trends now EXCLUSIVE: ‘This is the tip of the iceberg’: Top Republican demands answers on why the discovery of Biden’s classified documents was kept secret until after the midterms and how they were left in a closet for FIVE YEARS - as White House tries to deflect scandal Florida GOP Rep. Mike Waltz is the first Green Beret elected to Congress He spoke with DailyMail.com about a Tuesday report that President Biden had classified documents in an old office he hadn't used since 2020 Waltz said the timing of the documents' discovery less than a week before the midterms and the lack of disclosure of their existence until now is 'suspicious' By Elizabeth Elkind, U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.Com Published: 00:36 GMT, 12 January 2023 | Updated: 00:37 GMT, 12 January 2023 Viewcomments Top House Republican Rep. Mike Waltz on Wednesday called for a special counsel to oversee classified files recovered from President Joe Biden’s old private office. The White House revealed on Tuesday that a small batch of files dated from when Biden was Vice President were found in a locked closet in an old Washington, DC private office that Biden used from 2017 until he ran for President in 2020. ‘We’ve clearly just seen the tip of the iceberg,” Waltz, the first Army Green Beret elected to Congress, told DailyMail.com. 'And so my other question is - for five years, who had access?' He also called the timeline of the documents’ discovery ‘incredibly suspicious.’ Biden’s personal lawyers, who discovered the documents on November 2 of last year, alerted the National Archives and Justice Department that same day. The documents were handed over to authorities the next day. Florida Republican Rep. Mike Waltz told DailyMail.com it was 'suspicious' that the first set of documents was found before the election but not made public knowledge until this week Ten classified files were reportedly found at the Penn Biden Center, where the president kept an office from mid-2017 until his 2020 campaign But there is mounting pressure on the Biden administration to explain why the file discovery was not made public earlier, considering the midterm elections took place not a week later. Waltz also pointed out to DailyMail.com that the Justice Department would have known about the documents when Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to oversee a Justice Department case involving Donald Trump's own handling of classified files. It comes hours after NBC News reported that a second batch of documents was found, though the location was not immediately clear. 'Top question is, with regard to the first batch, what did Merrick Garland know?' Waltz said. 'I mean, obviously, he had some knowledge, and yet chose a special counsel, announced it, you know, had this entire rollout and no mention. What did he know? What has he known?' The Florida congressman also questioned 'who knew' about the documents between their discovery and the November 8 elections and why they were not disclosed during that six-day window. 'It's got to be one of the world's biggest coincidences, if...politics weren't involved,' Waltz said. 'If there's anything that deserves a special counsel since now we've set that bar, in terms of conflict of interest, it's this. Because we've clearly just seen the tip of the ice berg.' White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre dodged multiple questions regarding the documents during her regular press briefing on Wednesday. The president himself said Tuesday evening that he takes the matter 'seriously' and is 'cooperating fully' with investigators. Share or comment on this article: All rights reserved for this news site (dailymail) and under his responsibility