Tristan Justice writes for the Federalist about a disturbing attempt to change the historical record about COVID-19.

Former White House coronavirus task force member Dr. Scott Atlas critiqued Dr. Deborah Birx’s testimony before congressional lawmakers Tuesday as “an Orwellian attempt to rewrite history.”

“It is not a surprise that Dr. Birx, as the official Task Force Coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Task Force from late Feb. 2020 through Jan. 19, 2021, might want to blame others for the failure of her policies,” Atlas told The Federalist, after portions of Dr. Birx’s closed-door testimony to the House Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis became public.

In a two-day panel interview on Oct. 12 and 13, Birx castigated her former White House colleague for giving what she declared dangerous recommendations that led to tens of thousands more deaths.

“I believe if we had fully implemented the mask mandates,” she said, alongside “the reduction in indoor dining, the getting friends and family to understand the risk of gathering in private homes, and we had increased testing, that we probably could have decreased fatalities into the 30 percent less to 40 percent less range.”

Birx added she made it clear that she demanded no dissent in White House meetings as she recommended officials embrace draconian lockdowns to the detriment of millions. She also made her attendance contingent on Atlas’ absence. …

… In the end, however, Birx said she was ultimately sidelined in favor of recommendations from Atlas, smearing him as “a person that is basically wanting community spread to increase.”

In a statement to The Federalist, Atlas, a radiologist and fellow at the Hoover Institution, rejected the idea Birx was treated the way she described to House lawmakers, and described a long-time bureaucrat who got nearly everything she wanted in the form of a nationwide embrace of prolonged lockdowns. …

… Those policies, Atlas added, “failed to stop the dying, failed to stop the infection from spreading, and inflicted massive health damage and destruction, particularly on working class and lower-income families and on our children.”