diff --git a/livy/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/livy/BaseLivyInterpreter.java b/livy/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/livy/BaseLivyInterpreter.java
index f117686047a..858145c634d 100644
--- a/livy/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/livy/BaseLivyInterpreter.java
+++ b/livy/src/main/java/org/apache/zeppelin/livy/BaseLivyInterpreter.java
@@ -662,11 +662,12 @@ public Principal getUserPrincipal() {
       } else {
         restTemplate = new KerberosRestTemplate(keytabLocation, principal, httpClient);
       }
-    }
-    if (httpClient == null) {
-      restTemplate = new RestTemplate();
     } else {
-      restTemplate = new RestTemplate(new HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory(httpClient));
+      if (httpClient == null) {
+        restTemplate = new RestTemplate();
+      } else {
+        restTemplate = new RestTemplate(new HttpComponentsClientHttpRequestFactory(httpClient));
+      }
     }
     restTemplate.getMessageConverters().add(0,
         new StringHttpMessageConverter(Charset.forName("UTF-8")));