Mukasey takes get-well call from Bush

[November 21, 2008]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- Attorney General Michael Mukasey was conscious and alert early Friday -- and took a get-well call from President Bush -- just hours after he collapsed during a speech to a black-tie dinner.

White House press secretary Dana Perino sent out word to reporters that Bush telephoned his attorney general just before 7 a.m. EST Friday and said that Mukasey "sounded well and is getting excellent care."

The 67-year-old retired federal judge, whom Bush brought in last year to replace Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, was rushed to George Washington University Hospital late Thursday after he paused during his speech, started to slur his words and then collapsed. Three or four men in suits rushed on stage and caught him at the lectern.

It was not clear when the nation's chief law enforcer would be released. He had been admitted overnight to the hospital for observation after the incident in which he briefly lost consciousness.

Justice Department spokesman Gina Talamona would not comment when asked if Mukasey suffered a stroke. She had no information about his medical history.

Mukasey opened his speech on terrorism with a wry remark about expecting the mood at the conservative Federalist Society dinner to be "somber or sober." He slumped over the podium about 15 minutes later and could be seen swaying and shaking slightly just before he collapsed.

"Oh, no, no!" people in the audience cried out as Mukasey fell. "Oh, my God!"

Mukasey is Bush's third attorney general. The flinty but measured New Yorker has said the job initially discouraged him, and he has scaled back his public appearances in recent weeks.

A former prosecutor who saw Mukasey hours earlier described the attorney general as tired-looking and drawn.

Justice spokesman Peter Carr said Mukasey did not transfer his power to Deputy Attorney General Mark Filip.

"The attorney general is conscious, conversant and alert," Carr said after Mukasey was hospitalized. "His vital statistics are strong and he is in good spirits."

Talamona said Mukasey's wife, Susan, was with him at the hospital.

After collapsing, Mukasey lay on the stage for about 10 minutes being attended to by his FBI security detail and medical personnel at the 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."

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."

Twenty minutes later, Daly added in another e-mail: "Mukasey did regain consciousness before he was taken away."

Bush, scheduled to attend a weekend financial summit in Peru, was quickly informed about Mukasey's collapse, Perino said.

She said, "The president has him in his thoughts and will be kept apprised and hopes that he will be back up and at 'em again soon."

[Associated Press; By LARA JAKES JORDAN and MATT APUZZO]

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