AP Ed McMahon

News flash: Donald Trump has a heart. Trump tells the Los Angeles Times story that he is buying Ed McMahon's home and letting the aging TV veteran stay there. McMahon, 85, has reportedly defaulted on a $4.8 million mortgage from Countrywide.

He is also being sued by another lender for $250,000 and by his former lawyers for $275,000. The house was on the market for $4.6 million--down from $7 million two years ago--but we don't know what Trump is paying. A McMahon spokesman says the paperwork isn't quite completed yet, but all are hopeful a deal will be done.

Trump says "it would be an honor" to help McMahon out, even though The Donald doesn't know the man. So why would the world's most cold-hearted dealmaker lend a helping hand? Nostalgia. Trump says he used to watch "The Tonight Show" every night while attending Wharton Business School, and he's amazed at how the tide has turned against McMahon. "How could this happen?" Trump tells the LA Times.

Well, as McMahon told Larry King a while back, "If you spend more money than you make, you know what happens." McMahon says he hasn't been able to get work for 18 months because of a neck injury, and he also has "a couple of divorces" draining his finances.

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But is the home a good investment? McMahon bought it in 1990 for $2.6 million, according to public records. But he and his wife were forced out of the house for a time in 2002 because there was so much mold they claimed it killed their dog. The LA Weekly reports McMahon received a $7.2 million settlement in that case. That money is now gone.

And now the man with the huge check from "The American Family Publishing Sweepstakes" is Donald Trump, and the guy opening the door screaming with glee is Ed McMahon.

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