this is "nightline." >> tonight, federal judge esther salas on her path from tragedy to healing. >> my son gave his life for his father and i. >> revealing to abc's robin roberts about the day everything changed. an assassin killing her only child on their frontsbd.w tryin. how she confronted hate with forgiveness. >> he hated me because i was a woman. he hated me because i was latina. plus, state of covid. president trump calls off stimulus talks for pandemic anit ers top i qntinehi h

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tonight, she faced the unthinkable. after her son was shot and killed by a gunman at their home. the first latina federal judge in new jersey now calling for the protection of judges, telling abc's robin roberts how she plans to return to the bench and honor the life and legacy of her only child. >> i know that i'm going to strive every morning to be the best person that i can be. my son gave his life for his father and i. >> reporter: judge esther salas's son daniel was the light of her family. tragically killed when he was only 20 years old. tell us about your son. >> danny was the love of our life. from the moment he was born. we struggled to have a baby. i had four miscarriages, three before him, one after him.

from the moment that little boy came to this world he was the center of our universe. >> reporter: her only child murdered in their home. her husband, mark anderl, seriously wounded, targeted by a hateful killer because of who she was. >> he hated me because i was a woman. he hated me because i was latina. and that was the source of hate. that was, you know, what i had done, was i had the nerve to become a judge. >> reporter: for the first time since the tragedy judge salas sitting down recounting the devastation she and her family experienced this summer. her family had just spent the weekend celebrating daniel's 20th birthday with his friends at their home in new jersey. >> july 19th. walk us through that day. >> it was -- it was a great weekend. and danny was downstairs talking to me. as he always did. he said, "keep talking to me, mom. i love talking to you."

and it was at that exact second that the doorbell rang. and before i could tell him let dad handle it, he shot up the rs boom. and then i hear, "no." and then i hear a series of bullets. and i just -- what is happening? so i just -- i don't -- i remember running upstairs and it was so loud. i almost thought it was like mini bombs or something. and then i saw danny lying perpendicular to the door holding his chest. and i saw mark on his hands and knees at the porch. he had crawled to the porch to try to get the license plate or something of the person. i just got on the floor and i just saw my son.

and i know at some point mark was screaming call 911. and i tried to do that. and i lifted his shirt and i saw the bullet hole. and mark managed to crawl back, and we were both just fade away. and then the rest is, you know, a blur. >> reporter: daniel, taking a fatal bullet from a man posing as a delivery driver. the gunman shooting judge salas's husband three times before fleeing the scene. fortunately, mark survived. >> i think the hardest injury right now is to his heart. they were so close. he talks about danny as his best friend. >> reporter: family has always been the bedrock of judge salas's life. she was raised by a single mother, an immigrant from cuba who esther helped translate for. judge salas made history by becoming the first latina

federal judge in the state of new jersey in 2011. you worked hard to be a judge. you're proud of the fact that you're the first latina federal judge in the state of new jersey. >> i am so proud of who i am. i'm so proud of where i came from. amion city, new >> and she's a strong woman. >> she's a strong woman. she raised five children on her own. we all went to college. we all graduated. i went on to law school. >> reporter: joining the federal judiciary was her american dream. but it also came with increased exposure and danger. it's such a prominent role to be a judge, a federal judge at that. and you've had threats. have you ever feared for your safety? >> you know, you're always conscious of your surroundings. and we were. we were very careful. what i think happened is our defenses were lowered with what

was happening around us. i mean, i was ordering packages every day. and i think that role in some of our defenses being down. >> reporter: the fbi identified daniel's killer as disgruntled new york city lawyer roy den hollander, a self-described anti-feminist. judge salas was overseeing his lawsuit challenging the male-only military draft. hollander made seething remarks about salas in a self-published memoir, furious over her handling of the case. >> the fbi discovered that the shooter had what they called a complete dossier, a complete dossier on you and your family. do you recall any dealings with this man? >> vaguely. vaguely. it had been months if not a year when he last appeared before me. >> had he ever threatened you in any kind of way? >> nothing. there was nothing.

>> reporter: one day after daniel's murder hollander was found dead with a self-inflicted gunshot wound 100 miles away from the crime scene. investigators say they discovered f package addressed to judge salas, and over a dozen names written on a piece of paper including the name of a prominent new york state chief judge. >> he -- if he didn't do it that day he was going to do it. there is information and i have been told that he had wigs, he had mustaches, he had uniforms, and if he didn't do it that day he was going to do it. >> two weeks ago -- >> reporter: weeks after her son was killed judge salas posted this powerful statement on youtube pleading for reform and change after daniel's tragic death. >> we may not be able to stop something like this from happening again. but we can make it hard for

those who target us to track us down. >> what can be done? >> we start with trying to eliminate the personally identified -- identifiable information, what they call the p.i.i., getting that off the internet. there's the idea, increased home security systems. >> you said it's a matter of life and death. >> oh, it is. >> reporter: there has been a surge in threats to federal judges and their families, and experts say that women and minorities are targeted even more. between 2014 and 2019 threats and inappropriate communications against federal judges, prosecutors, and court officials have gone up morefivefold. to try to protect federal judges, last week new jersey's representatives in congress introduced the daniel anderl judicial security and privacy act. yes, named after salas's son. >> after daniel's murder i made a personal commitment to judge salas. i would put forth legislation to

better protect the men and women who sit on our federal judiciary and to help prevent this unthinkable tragedy from ever happening again to anyone else. >> reporter: for now judge salas is taking time away from the bench to care for her husband as he recovers. >> being on the bench is a lifetime appointment. >> yes. >> are you planning on returning to the bench? >> absolutely. absolutely. this man took the most important thing in my life. i can't let him take anything else. i love my job. i'm proud to be a united states district judge. i can't let him take that from me. i'm also going to go back and talk about those things that are critical that we hear like gender equality. the first mission i have, obviously, is judicial security. but you know, when i think about what i want to do next, i want to talk about gender equality.

i want to talk about talk about diversity is a beautiful thing. and those are the things that quite frankly i know this individual hated about me. >> reporter: a source of strength has been leaning on her catholic faith and one of its core tenets, forgiveness. >> my husband forgave the shooter when he was in icu fighting for his life. i wasn't quite ready to say i forgave the shooter. >> reporter: but weeks later with the help of her priest she too was able to forgive her son's killer. >> i said god, i forgive him. god, i forgive him. god, i forgive him. and from the moment i did that i felt lighter. you know, hate is is light. and i honestly haven't spent a moment thinking about him at

alal all. >> what can you say to someone who's watching and going i can't -- that's you, that's wonderful that you're able to find the strength but it's not within me? >> what i would say to them is that you need to, whatever your faith is, hold on to that. whatever you need to do. get the help you need. oftentimes people are lonely. i'm never alone. i'm never alone. i have god and i have daniel. he's with me always. >> our thanks to robin roberts. and coming up, our powerhouse political duo. why the president just said no deal to a possible new covid relief package. knowing who we are is hard. it's hard. eliminate who you are not first, and you're going to find yourself where you need to be. ♪ the race is never over. the journey has no port. the adventure never ends,

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♪ we know millions of americans are struggling to make ends meet during theo respond? earlier this evening i spoke to yvette simpson, ceo of democracy for america, and sarah fagan, ceo of deep root analytics. thank you both for joining us. but sarah, let me begin with you. the president called off stimulus talks today, telling his treasury secretary steve mnuchin, to stop negotiating a new package with nancy pelosi. clearly, americans care about the economy and the coronavirus. how is this going to play with voters? >> well, look, this is the ultimate art of the deal, right? you know, is this really being called off or is this another tactic in a negotiation? the sides are almost a trillion dollars apart. so i think on its face it's very

risky. the average person knows somebody out of work, is concerned about their local economy, and so when they see these talks shut down they're very concerned that washington is broken, remains broken. at the same time you know, there is credence to the argument that the democrats use these financial packages to load up on all the things they care about including the things that don't have anything to do with covid. and if you poll most americans, they don't agree with that. and in this case there's a fight over bailing out cities, in most cases, which a lot of them are in financial straits long before covid happened. and the president is putting his foot down on this. >> and yet there are also bailouts for airline workers and jobs, jobs, jobs. yvette, your thoughts on the unraveling of the stimulus talks. >> you know, i think it just shows once again how out of touch the gop and the trump administration are. you know, folks are watching donald trump go to walter reed in this amazing suite, being driven around by his secret

service wang like the queen. he'st the coronavirus. a and mericans are suffering.and they're saying gu esent get top-notch 's still getting paid. you know,g paid. let's let them live on $1,200 a month during this time. so i think the american people are with democrats on this because it's democrats who have been prioritizing everyday workers, everyday people. >> there can be a deal tomorrow. the republicans have offered $1.6 trillion. they will sign that tomorrow. it's not enough for nancy pelosi. and so she is in effect stalling these talks. >> let's talk about covid response, though, yvette. we've learned that the highest-ranking pentagon officials are in quarantine. yet another top white house aide stephen miller is among at least 24 people testing positive who've been at the white house. they're clearly struggling to

contain their own outbreak. so how does the president convince americans he's equipped to handle the nation's fight against the pandemic? >> he's doing the opposite. you know, most americans, the super majority of them, don't believe trump has handled this well, and him contracting the virus and everyone around him is just proof that every move that he's made has made this virus more dangerous. not just to all of us but certainly to him. the fact that he's not willing to wear a mask even when he has contracted the disease, the fact that he's back in the white house, potentially infecting workers and staffers shows that heer meeting that they had for amy coney barrett. you see all these people hugging, no masks, pretending that there's no coronavirus. and then all of a sudden they get it. so i think people were feeling really, really tired of the trump gop -- and the gop on this diseasisbecause we know do say sotba y can survivethis, it's not that big a deal, i

think the american people are seeing right through and they're saying this particular president is out of touch with the coronavirus pandemic. >> sarah, we're a month out from the election. how does president trump's coronavirus response play with crucial voting blocs like suburban women or seniors for that matter? >> i think he has a tone problem. and importantly with those two groups specifically. a lot of times on the things he says there's a veil of truth to it that a lot of people agree with. don't let the virus control your life, for example. i think most people agree with that. now, for some people they need to be very, very careful and very, very cautious and they can die from it. for most people, 97%, 98%, 99% of most populations, you know, can get sick from it but not perish from it. and so he tends to mix his messaging and it's not nuanced enough. voters are sophisticated. seniors are the most scared.

but suburban women have a lot of different pressures on them related to this virus. they have children at home. they're trying to do jobs. they're wanting to keep their kids in school if their school is open and hoping the school doesn't get quarantined. they get the dynamics of balancing it. and the president was sort of going there yesterday but he just made a blanket statement. and those blanket statements are hurting him politically. >> thank you, sarah fagen and yvette simpson, both for your perspectives and your time. >> thank you, juju. >> and tune in to complete coverage of the vice presidential debate tomorrow evening starting at 8:00, 7:00 central right here on abc. and up next, dancing the night away. remembering a guitar legend. ever since i got this little guy, i felt like i was just constantly cleaning up his hair. then, i got my paws on the swiffer sweeper... it's a game changer! these heavy duty dry cloths pick up a crazy amount of hair. this is all you. we stopped cleaning and started swiffering.

families with young children could get nearly $7,000 dollars for child care. ur,000 dollars. older seniors, your yearly social security benefits could increase by $1,300 dollars. the biden plan: the wealthy and big corporations pay more, you benefit. i'm joe biden and i approve this message. and ask your doctor about biktarvy. biktarvy is a complete, one-pill, once-a-day treatment used for h-i-v in certain adults. it's not a cure, but with one small pill, biktarvy fights h-i-v to help you get to and stay undetectable.

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if you're living with hiv, keep loving who you are. they do one of the most deven in normal times.s, our frontline health care workers. d en these heroes lack the resources they ne iskyob gets tpay hare.en makes corporats in our clinics, in the essential workers who treat everyone- rich, poor, and in-between.

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♪ and finally tonight, remembering one of the greatest. ♪ eddie van halen made it look so easy. the guitar virtuoso wowing the world with a rare gift. that finger tapping technique an eruption of unparalleled mastery. eddie and his brother alex

co-founding van halen, one of the most influential rock bds to defineockgenre. inducted into rock a roll so t including that smash hit "jump." and that legendary guitar solo also leaving his indelible mark with the king of pop in the iconic hit "beat it." the legend dying today after a nc. eddie van halewas 65. ♪ go ahead jump >> rock on. that's "nightline" for tonight. you can watch our full episodes on hulu. ...this one's for you. you inspired us to make your

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