Attorney General Michael Mukasey is awake and well after collapsing while giving a speech to the Federalist Society in Washington last night.

Sixty-seven-year-old Mukasey began to slur his words and began to shake before fainting, at which point about four men eased him to the ground and waited for an ambulance. He was taken to George Washington University Hospital, where doctors kept him overnight for observation. No one’s saying what could have happened to the attorney general, nor did Justice Department officials comment when a reporter asked whether Mukasey had suffered a stroke.

Mukasey, who took over last year after Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was forced out, had been speaking about the virtues of the Bush Administration’s approach to national security. Here’s the part where he began to stumble:

And I am hopeful that some time from now, after the next administration has had the chance to review the decisions made and the legal advice provided, it will acknowledge that despite any policy differences, the national security lawyers in this administration acted professionally and in good faith and that the country was safer as a result.

Mukasey is now "alert" and "conversant," say doctors, and even took a "get well" call from President Bush this morning, but there is still no word on when the attorney general will be given the green light to go home.

Update: A Justice Department official said that Mukasey did not have a stroke. It was simply a "fainting spell." 

Here’s the video of Mukasey collapsing, if you’re curious …