Despite the pushback from Tea Party conservatives in the Republican Party over the use of eminent domain, GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump called the controversial act a "wonderful thing."

For years, Tea Party groups and right-wing conservatives have voiced opposition against eminent domain laws, which give the government the right to acquire private property from U.S. citizens. However, during an interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier, Trump defended the laws, arguing that land owners fighting to keep their property are usually "people are just holding out for more money."

"I think eminent domain is wonderful if you're building a highway and you need to build as an example, a highway, and you're going to be blocked by a hold-out or in some cases, it's a hold-out, just so you understand, nobody knows this better than I do, I built a lot of buildings in Manhattan and you'll have 12 sites and you'll get 11 and you'll have the one hold-out and you end up building around them and everything else," Trump explained on Tuesday's "Special Report."

"I think eminent domain for massive projects, for instance you're going to create thousands of jobs and you have somebody that's in the way. Eminent domain, they get a lot of money," Trump continued. "And you need a house in a certain location because you're going to build this massive development that's going to employ thousands of people or you're going to build a factory that without this little house, you can't build the factory. I think eminent domain is fine."

In turn, some Republicans have shunned Trump's support of eminent domain, while others have dismissed him as a fake conservative.

"Donald Trump's been a big fan of this [eminent domain]," 2016 presidential candidate Rand Paul in September, according to CBS News. "He used it in his business model and has really shown no consideration for small private property owners... I think the more people that get to know what Donald Trump has really been for through the years, I think they're going to really worry that he is a fake conservative."

Watch Trump talking about eminent domain below.