* Natasha Korecki and Scott Wong at NBC News…

Last week, a member of Sen. Tammy Duckworth’s staff called Rep. Ted Lieu’s team with a question: Couldn’t the congressman have given her a heads up before issuing an endorsement in her state’s open, hotly contested Democratic Senate primary?

Lieu’s staff was puzzled. The California congressman, who, like Duckworth, is one of the most prominent Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) lawmakers on Capitol Hill, hadn’t weighed in on the Senate race in Duckworth’s state of Illinois.

That’s when Lieu’s team learned that Democratic Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi’s campaign for Senate had implied otherwise, according to a person with knowledge of the conversation.

In fact, for months, the Krishnamoorthi campaign had been sending fundraising emails purporting to be written by Lieu, according to a review of nearly a dozen of those emails. […]

But Krishnamoorthi has not won Lieu’s backing in the contested Illinois Senate race. And Lieu knew nothing about the communications bearing his name and had not approved any emails for distribution this election cycle, according to his office.

Oops. Go read the rest.

* Meanwhile, Krishnamoorthi is taking more heat on those contributions from those Palantir executive contributions. Excerpt from a letter from more than 50 electeds and advocates…

We write to express our deep concern and disappointment regarding your acceptance of contributions from an individual closely tied to ICE operations and to political efforts that have supported or enabled cruel immigration enforcement, including against our neighbors in Chicago and across Illinois. Over the past months, we’ve seen families pulled apart in courthouses, children and seniors zip tied in the middle of the night, and peaceful protestors attacked for speaking out. For someone seeking to represent all Illinoisans in the U.S. Senate, this behavior is disqualifying. […]

It is particularly troubling that your fundraising appeals have referenced ICE raids in Chicago while simultaneously accepting financial support from individuals linked to the development or implementation of systems that enabled those very operations. This contradiction risks undermining trust and suggests a willingness to benefit politically from the harm experienced by immigrant communities.

The full letter is worth a read.

He should’ve dumped that money immediately because he was eventually going to have to do it. Oh, well.

* The demand…

1. Return or donate the contributions received from individuals or entities connected to ICE enforcement or MAGA-aligned political efforts.

2. Provide full transparency around your campaign’s vetting process for major donors.

3. Clarify your position on accepting contributions from those whose work or political involvement has supported immigration enforcement practices that conflict with the values you publicly espouse.

* Signatories…