Jeffrey Epstein celebrated Britain’s decision to leave the European Union in the wake of the 2016 referendum, hailing a “return to tribalism”, newly released documents suggest. The latest tranche of documents released by the US Department of Justice, part of the Epstein files, appears to show the convicted paedophile emailing tech billionaire Peter Thiel, describing Brexit as “just the beginning”. On June 26 – just three days after Britain voted to leave the EU – Epstein appears to have written an email to Mr Thiel, saying: “Brexit, just the beginning.” The venture capitalist appears to respond: “Of what,” to which Epstein says: “Return to tribalism, counter to globalisation, amazing new alliances.” He added: “You and I both agreed zero interest rates were too high, and as I said in your office. finding things on their way to collapse, was much easier than finding the next bargain.” Millions of emails released on Friday show the influence of the disgraced paedophile. There are now growing calls for former government minister, Lord Mandelson, to face a criminal investigation over his links with Epstein after emails emerged suggesting he forwarded him an internal No 10 email sent to then prime minister Gordon Brown by one of his special advisers. The note, which included an assessment of the state of the UK economy in the wake of the financial crisis, suggested the government had “saleable assets” that could be sold to the private sector to reduce debt. Note: Read our latest in-depth Epstein files investigation, titled "Beyond Sex Trafficking—Zorro Ranch and a Darker Scientific Agenda." Epstein and Steve Bannon were very close. Bannon was a key advisor to Robert Mercer's Cambridge Analytica, the company at the center of the public opinion manipulation behind Brexit. For more along these lines, read our concise summaries of news articles on Jeffrey Epstein's crime ring and intelligence agency corruption. - The Independent