diff --git a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/its/jira/restapi/JiraRestApi.java b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/its/jira/restapi/JiraRestApi.java
index caafc7a..9f81230 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/its/jira/restapi/JiraRestApi.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/googlesource/gerrit/plugins/its/jira/restapi/JiraRestApi.java
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@
    */
   JiraRestApi(URL url, String user, String pass, Class<T> classOfT, String classPrefix) {
     String auth = user + ":" + pass;
-    this.auth = new String(Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(auth.getBytes()));
+    this.auth = Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(auth.getBytes());
     this.baseUrl = url;
     this.gson = new Gson();
     this.classOfT = classOfT;