Read my lips: Paul Manafort’s sentencing for crimes committed had nothing — not a damn thing! — to do with whether the Donald Trump presidential campaign colluded with Russians who attacked our electoral system in 2016.

Are we clear? If not, I shall explain.

Manafort, the president’s one-time campaign chairman, has received roughly 7 1/2 years in federal prison on an assortment of tax fraud charges. He wasn’t charged with collusion. He did not stand trial on charges of collusion.

He was sentenced for unrelated crimes.

So, why is the president continuing to say the judges who sentenced Manafort to prison have found “no evidence of collusion”? Why did Manafort’s lawyer repeat that phony assertion today?

I am beginning to understand better why Trump keeps saying it. He’s trying to divert attention from the issue at hand: the conviction and sentencing of his former campaign chairman. Trump says things without thinking because, well, he’s the president of the United States. He’s also not nearly as smart as he keeps telling us he is.

Manafort’s lawyer, an officer of the court, surely should know better. But there he was today, bellowing over the shouts of demonstrators that it’s been proved that Trump’s campaign didn’t collude with Russians.

C’mon, man! Stick to the issue of the day. It is that Paul Manafort has apologized for the crimes he committed. None of it had anything to do with collusion.

Now . . . are we clear? Good!