Story highlights Clinton's team planned rebuttals for Trump's arguments, including lines on her debate prep taking her off the trail

Clinton's aides were giddy about how the debate played out, using words like "unhinged" to describe Trump

White Plains, New York (CNN) When Donald Trump tried to score points by saying that Hillary Clinton had spent days off the campaign trail to prepare for Monday night's debate, Clinton -- having spent days off the trail to prepare -- had a ready reply.

"I think Donald just criticized me for preparing for this debate," Clinton said wryly after Trump hit Clinton for taking time off the trail. "And, yes, I did. You know what else I prepared for? I prepared to be president. And I think that's a good thing."

The line was not spontaneous.

According to sources inside Clinton's debate prep, Trump and his surrogates telegraphed his line of attack as they were hitting Clinton for the time off before the debate. So they looked for a way to flip the line on the Republican nominee and urged Clinton to use it.

But it wasn't the only pre-planned moment in a debate that became a prolonged opposition research dump on the Republican nominee.

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