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I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Wednesday, January 3, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.

The release of over 150 names mentioned in court documents from a Jeffrey Epstein civil case is expected to begin today. Here with more Daily Wire Investigations Editor, Brent Schur.

The news comes despite a judge granting a 30-day extension to consider the appeal of a Jane Doe who wishes to remain anonymous. A district executive for the Southern district of New York said that the judge's order to delay the release only applies to Jane Doe, 107, and at least one other who appealed, not the dozens of others. The names will reportedly be released on a rolling basis, beginning today. These documents come from the case of Virginia Djouffre, who claims that both Epstein and his associate associate, Jelaine Maxwell, pressured her as a teenager to engage in sexual relationships with powerful men. Several prominent names are expected to be mentioned in the court documents, including former President Bill Clinton. Abc News reports that Clinton will be identified as Doe 36, and is mentioned in filings at least 50 times.

Deadly explosions shook a memorial for Iranian general, Qassim Solamani, last night, killing over 100 people and injuring around 140 others. Daily Wire reporter Tim pierce, has more.

According to Iran state media, the first explosion struck within 2,500 feet from Solimani's grave in Southern Iran's Kermin Martyrs Cemetery. The second, according to the Iranian Student's News Agency, is said to have hit roughly 2,000 feet from the Iranian general's grave. No person or organization has yet claimed responsibility for the blasts. Some Iranian officials were quick to call the incident a terrorist terrorist attack, but there is still much uncertainty about the explosions in a country where information is largely controlled by the ruling regime. Solomani was killed by a US drone strike in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, in January 2020.

Former President Donald Trump is formerly be appealing the decision to remove him from Maine's Republican primary ballot over his alleged involvement in the January sixth riots. Maine's Secretary of State, Shina Belloz, became the first Secretary of State in history to remove someone from a presidential ballot using Section 3 of the 14th Amendment. The provision Belloz used prohibits anyone who engaged in insurrection from holding office. The appeal now heads to the Maine Supreme Court. Maine's Republican Party has said on social media that they are working around the clock to block Bellows and get the former President back on the ballot. Here's Republican Representative Billy Bob Fulkingham speaking to WMTW News 8.

Something no other Secretary of State has ever done. Pretty appalled. She's basically made a determination that Donald Trump has committed insurrection with no adjudication of that. The most important part of the 14th Amendment was the Equal Protection Clause, which says that all people are guaranteed the right to due process.

Independent presidential candidate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr, has qualified for the presidential ballot in Utah after the collection of the required 1,000 signatures. A Kennedy campaign spokesperson says Utah is first state where he qualified to appear. A member of one of the country's most famous Democratic families, Kennedy left the party this past fall and announced an independent bid for the oval office. His announcement came after he accused the DNC of rigging the primary and also put them on blast for not hosting debates between Biden and other candidates.

More allegations of wrongdoing by Senator Bob Menindez came to light yesterday in a New York indictment. The indictment accuses Menindez of speaking relatively about Qatar in exchange for luxurious items. According to the indictment, the Senator was allegedly offered wristwatches valued somewhere between $10,000 and $24,000. The indictment quotes co-defendant Fred Dives asking, How about one of these? Along with pictures of the watches. Two days later, Dibis messaged Menindez regarding a Senate resolution supportive of Qatar. Menindez has so far denounced all the charges and the calls for his resignation, though political strategists say there's no coming back from this.

The gold bars, the cash sewn inside his jacket, the cars just looks horrible. He has no political future. His time in politics will be over this time next year. There'll be a new senator from New Jersey.

The Biden administration is set to open four ports of entry at the Southern border after they were closed due to a record surge of migrants. According to administration officials, the four ports opening back up on Thursday will be Eagle Pass, Texas, San Yucidro, California, Lukeville, Arizona, and Nogales, Arizona. These ports were closed for much of December because US Customs and Border Protection shifted resources to deal with the insurmountable number of migrants traveling to the US. The planned reopening comes after a record-setting month in which CBP reported over 300,000 migrant encounters.

And it's a new year, and with it comes a new weather pattern. After a historically warm December for much of the US, January is set to be a different story. A storm forecasted this weekend could hit areas from the Mid-Atlantic all the way up to New England. It's been several years since areas like New York City, Philadelphia, or Baltimore have seen more than an inch of snow over a 24-hour period. But weather forecasters say this storm has the potential to break that streak.

Those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire. Com. And for more in-depth discussion of the biggest stories of the day, listen to the latest full episode of MorningWire every morning.