diff --git a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/etcd/etcd.go b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/etcd/etcd.go
index 980b5f9898680..cf31764cb458f 100644
--- a/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/etcd/etcd.go
+++ b/cmd/kubeadm/app/util/etcd/etcd.go
@@ -360,8 +360,11 @@ func (c *Client) RemoveMember(id uint64) ([]Member, error) {
 
 	// Returns the updated list of etcd members
 	ret := []Member{}
-	for _, m := range resp.Members {
-		ret = append(ret, Member{Name: m.Name, PeerURL: m.PeerURLs[0]})
+	if resp != nil {
+		for _, m := range resp.Members {
+			ret = append(ret, Member{Name: m.Name, PeerURL: m.PeerURLs[0]})
+		}
+
 	}
 
 	return ret, nil