WASHINGTON – President Trump and Paul Manafort could’ve struck a deal to have the former campaign chairman pardoned — but they “acted too late,” says Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz.

“Manafort, if he was going to make a deal, should’ve made it before he was convicted,” Dershowitz told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday.

“He would’ve gotten a better deal,” Dershowitz said. “And President Trump, if he was going to pardon, he should’ve pardoned before Manafort agreed to cooperate.”

Manafort on Friday was the latest Trump associate to cave to a plea deal that requires him to cooperate in the Russian probe. Others who have pleaded guilty are former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, foreign policy adviser George Papadopoulos and Manafort’s deputy Rick Gates.

It’s unclear what Manafort will tell special counsel Robert Mueller, but he led the Trump campaign during critical moments of interest to investigators.

Manafort attended the infamous June 2016 Trump Tower meeting with Russians, Don Jr. and Jared Kushner designed to get “dirt” on Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

Manafort, who has deep foreign ties, was also in the charge when the Republican Party changed its platform to be more friendly to Russia.

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, meanwhile, claimed Sunday that President Trump and his legal team are “terrified” of what dirt his former campaign head could dish to federal prosecutors.

“They may think they know what Manafort has to say because he was part of that joint defense agreement, but they have to know that he may not have told them the full truth,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) told Meet the Press. “They’re terrified of what he has to say.”

Schiff said he was taken back by Manafort’s decision to not hold out for a pardon from the president before agreeing to his plea deal with Mueller.

“I’m surprised that we are where we are, that Manafort is cooperating,” Schiff said.

Trump’s lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, has downplayed the guilty plea as “irrelevant” because there’s no evidence Trump colluded with Russians to meddle in the 2016 election — and the plea deal has to do with Manafort’s life prior to the Trump campaign.

Dershowitz, however, said Giuliani was simply putting a positive spin on “bad” situation for the president.

“This was a very bad day for the Trump Administration,” he told Meet the Press. “It’s bad because he doesn’t know what Manafort is saying.”