Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) came for President Joe Biden over the weekend for restricting energy exploration and mining in Alaska while failing to enforce sanctions against some top adversaries of the United States.

During a Sunday interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” with Margaret Brennan, Sullivan slammed Biden’s move as “suicidal and lawless.”

Brennan quizzed him on his choice of words, saying, “I know you’re also passionate about this and what the Biden administration just announced about your state of Alaska. He has limited oil and gas drilling in parts in the National Petroleum Reserve to protect polar bears and other things. And then he also blocked a road crucial to operating a copper and zinc mine. You said this is ‘suicidal’ and ‘lawless.’ Those are strong words,” Brennan noted.

In response, Sullivan said, “Well, it’s lawless. He doesn’t have the authority to do it. And I could go into all the laws that support me on that. It’s, as I say, national security suicide. Look, this president won’t sanction the Iranian oil and gas regime. You may have seen Senator Blumenthal and I put a – sent a letter to the president on Friday, saying you need to do that.”

“But he has no problem sanctioning Alaska. This administration has issued 63 executive orders and executive actions singularly focused on Alaska to shut our state down. Now, that, of course, hurts my constituents. But, Margaret, the national resources, energy, critical minerals, that’s an American strength,” he continued.

Making a case about how the Biden administration’s move should be a concern to all Americans, the lawmaker further said, “I will mention one final thing that I really wanted to highlight here. You know, I have been in the Senate nine years. I have never seen such a cynical and dishonest display coming out of any presidency when this president on Friday, with Secretary Haaland, announced that they did this because the Alaska Natives, the indigenous people on the North Slope of Alaska asked them to, they wanted them to.”

Sullivan disputed the president’s claim, revealing that Alaska leaders were unanimously opposed to the restriction the Biden administration put in place and had tried to meet with Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland who refused to meet with them.

In addition to lying to the American public about the indigenous people of Alaska wanting the restrictions, Sullivan accused the president of “canceling their voices and now stealing their voices” in a move that he called “despicable.”

Sullivan’s criticism follows the Biden administration’s announcement on Friday that revealed a plan to restrict new oil and gas leasing on 5.3 million hectares of a federal petroleum reserve in Alaska. This, the administration said, is to “protect wildlife such as polar bears and caribou as the Arctic continually warms up.”