Maybe he knows he is going to lose in federal court, and he wants to go through the pretense of fighting against the release of the photos, so he can appear to be “moderate” and gain support from the military. After the court rules to release the photos again, he can say he tried to suppress them.
In the meantime, they are likely to leak to the media, so again he can pull a Pontius Pilate if that happens. Thus he can work to destroy the USA while avoiding the blame.
That’s pretty much my thinking on it as well.