From over at Talking Points Memo;
Attorney General Michael Mukasey collapsed this evening while giving a speech to Federalist Society in Washington, DC. The only further word we've been able to find is from Mike Allen at The Politico, who says that as of 10:30 PM, "medical officials were still working on him on the stage."
Late Update: From the AP,Associate Attorney General Kevin O'Connor says Mukasey began shaking during a speech to the Federalist Society and collapsed. He did not immediately regain consciousness.
Late Update Two: We're still following this closely, now just minutes after 11 PM. As best we can tell no news service has any new substantive information about the AG's health, other than the initial news that he began slurring his speech and then shaking and then collapsed. There seems to be no solid information about whether he regained consciousness.
Further Update from TPM
Futher Update from the AP;
The attorney general is conscious, conversant and alert," Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said after doctors admitted Mukasey to George Washington University Hospital for the night.
Mukasey remained on the stage for 10 minutes being attended to by his FBI security detail and medical personnel present at the conservative Federalist Society dinner, said eyewitness Abigail Thernstrom, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute. Though he lost consciousness initially, Mukasey appeared to be awake when he was taken from the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in northwest Washington, she said.
"It was hard to watch such a thing," Thernstrom said. "It was horrible."
Justice Department officials appeared anxious and alarmed at George Washington Hospital but spokesman Carr said Mukasey did not transfer his power to Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip.
Justice spokeswoman Gina Talamona declined to say whether Mukasey had suffered a stroke. She had no information about his medical history.
A Republican staffer on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Jack Daly, who was also at the dinner, said in an e-mail to colleagues sent at 10:20 p.m. EST: "AG Mukasey collapsed in the middle of his keynote address at tonight's fed-soc dinner. He is still on stage after ten minutes and his security detail has called 911. The paramedics just arrived."
Eighteen minutes later, Daly added in another e-mail: "Mukasey did regain consciousness before he was taken away.
