Hovhannisyan

MEMORANDUM **

Edgar Hovhannisyan, a native and citizen of Armenia, petitions pro se for review of the Board of Immigration Appeals’ (“BIA”) decision affirming an Immigration *185 Judge’s denial of his applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”). We have jurisdiction pursuant to 8 U.S.C. § 1252 . We review an adverse credibility determination for substantial evidence. Chebchoub v. INS, 257 F.3d 1038, 1042 (9th Cir.2001). We deny the petition.

Hovhannisyan admitted that upon arriving in the United States, he told immigration officials that he feared returning to Armenia because people were after him for money and did not mention any of the politically-motivated attacks set forth in his asylum application. While statements given during airport interviews are not always valuable impeachment sources, see Singh v. INS, 292 F.3d 1017, 1021-24 (9th Cir.2002), here the statement’s reliability is not in question because Hovhannisyan admitted making it. See Li v. Ashcroft, 378 F.3d 959, 962-63 (9th Cir.2004). Further, Hovhannisyan’s airport statement does not just lack detail, but contradicts what he later claimed, see id. at 963…