CNN legal expert Ellie Honig said that the sentencing of President-elect Donald Trump in the Manhattan “hush money” case by Judge Juan Merchan was actually good news for him.

The president-elect was sentenced to an unconditional release on Friday, as had been anticipated, but prior to the sentencing, the CNN legal expert said that it was good news for Trump.

Not only would Trump not be punished in any way by the sentence but it also gave him the opportunity to appeal.

He made the comments after the Supreme Court declined to intervene in the case to stop the sentencing.

“I think it was perfectly sound,” he said of the Supreme Court’s decision. “Basically, the justices in the majority said two things. First of all, they said ‘What‘s the harm? You‘re going to get sentenced to zero. You can do it by Zoom. You can roll out of bed and do it. And, second of all, you do maybe have substantial issues.’ I think he has substantial issues on appeal, but you can handle them through the full appeal process that will follow your sentencing.”

“Trump actually gets a benefit by being sentenced tomorrow, which is once that sentencing is over as of tomorrow morning, then he can take his full appeals,” Honig added. “He can go up to the New York Courts of Appeals. He can go maybe to the U.S. Supreme Court and say, ‘The charge against me was unconstitutional,’ which I think it may be. He can say that the jury was not properly instructed, but if he had gotten his way, if he was not sentenced tomorrow, he would not have been able to appeal.”

The law in the state of New York says that a sentence of a sentence of “unconditional discharge” finalizes the conviction, but he president-elect would not be imprisoned, fined or placed on probation.