Here's the thing. If we reasonably assume that Trump saw the list after taking office, continued to talk about releasing it, then tried to pretend it never existed, something changed. Something caused Trump to totally reverse course on this.
I honestly think the strongest possibility is this: The Illuminati (whoever the fuck they actually are) show up and tell Trump, if you release this, we're going to kill you and your entire extended family. We won't miss this time. The consequences won't matter because we'll have nothing left to lose. Publish it, we dare you.
Something like that is the only thing I can think of to explain the complete 180.