Here's the real reason Trump is addressing the nation about the border wall: Former DOJ lawyer

Amid news that President Donald Trump wants to have a primetime address to talk about his border wall, one former Justice Department appointee read between the lines.

Quoting a tweet from the New York Times' Maggie Haberman about the report she co-authored revealing the planned address, Obama-era Homeland Security and Justice Department appointee Eric Columbus offered his conjecture on its real purpose.

Admitting that he was "just speculating," Columbus wrote that Trump may announce a national emergency "thus unlocking statutes that some argue allow some wall-building."

The move would kick the fights to federal courts, "allowing him to reopen government while saving face."

"If he later loses in court he'll have a new scapegoat," the former DOJ appointee noted.