Former President George W. Bush minced no words Sunday when he said NSA leaker Edward Snowden “damaged the country.”

Bush gave a very candid interview to CNN on Sunday from Africa where he and Laura Bush are helping renovate a health clinic and CNN published a brief segment of it Monday morning.

When asked if one man could really hurt an entire nation, Bush repeated, “I think he damaged the security of the country.”

“I put that program in place to protect the country and one of the certainties is civil liberties were guaranteed,” Bush said of the NSA’s surveillance of Internet activity.

As usual, Bush refused to criticize President Obama or his administration saying, “I don’t think it does any good. It’s a hard job. A former president doesn’t need to make it any harder.”

But it was his honest response that he “could care less” what opinion poll numbers show of him, that got a chuckle out of Laura.

“The only time I really cared was on Election Day,” he said.

Perhaps suspecting that there is a growing number of Americans who may be softening on the Bush 43 years, he confidently spoke of his legacy saying, “Ultimately, history will be the judge.”

“I won’t be around, because it will take a while for the objective historians to show up,” Bush said. “So I’m pretty comfortable with it, I did what I did; I know the spirit in which I did it.”

Watch the segment here via CNN:

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Janeen Capizola

"And though she be but little, she is fierce." And fun! This conservative-minded political junkie, mom of three, dancer and one-time NFL cheerleader holds a bachelor of arts degree in political science. [email protected]. Twitter: @JaneenBPR

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