Hillary Clinton’s director of communications said Wednesday that the campaign thought Donald Trump could become “unhinged” during the presidential debates.

According to Jennifer Palmieri, “the whole setup of the debate was to intimidate [Clinton],” and the campaign team prepped Clinton on how to respond to Trump’s tactics.

“Coming on the heels of the Access Hollywood tape that had been released two days before, we were very concerned–we knew that he could be unhinged, that he would try to make it very uncomfortable for her in any way he can,” Palmieri said in a phone interview on MSNBC.

Palmieri said Clinton and the team were unsure if Clinton should “call him out on it” during the debate or if she should choose to ignore the alleged intimidation.

“As a woman on the national stage in a leadership position, you’re not sure if you should show your emotions or show your strength,” Palmieri continued. “And I think at the time, where she was coming up, she was almost always in this position of needing to show her strength.”

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