The Trumpeters have openly turned on Manafort, but the undercurrents are hard to read from the outside.
Either:
- The Enquirer story and West Wing leaks were a warning shot at Manafort, forcing him to swap his lawyers (who may have been looking for a deal) with a team more to the Trumpeter’s liking (stonewall, deny and delay instead of deal).
Or
- The Trumpeters have decided to cut Manafort loose and use him as a scapegoat, and the change of lawyers is Manafort moving to a less Trump-loyal firm.
Hard to say which, but I’d bet on (1).