just elected its first female president in a 200-year history. that's according to projections. the women she says helped get her there. plus, pride policy, president biden's campaign is zeroing in on lgbtq plus voters this pride month. the strategy to tackle growing concerns over waning support. and could less be more when it comes to treating cancer? the new research on scaling back treatments to help patients feel better as they're getting better. our nbc news reporter are following all of the latest developments, and we begin with nbc's ken dilanian who's outside the courthouse in wilmington, delaware, and, ken, i know we're in a lunch break just a few minutes ago, where do things stand right now in picking a jury? >> reporter: greetings, chris. they have actually moved through this jury selection process rather quickly. they've got 34 qualified jurors of 36 that they want to get to in order to go to the second round where they really get down to brass tax and start with the peremptory challenges and excludeing folks. the judge will bring in another group of jurors after this lunch break to pick two more, and then we'll go to that second round, and as you said in the intro, it's been fascinating to sort of watch and listen to the reasons people are being excluded, what information they know or don't know about this case. here in blue state delaware where joe biden has been a political force for 50 years, they're picking from about a million people in the state here. that's the jury pool. and quite a few of them have said that they can't be impartial because they have heard things about this case and hunter biden already or have negative views of the biden family, and a couple of other people have been excluded because of social ties to the biden family. one particular person played squash with the late joe biden. one person who qualified for the jury, a former wilmington police officer said he worked for several years at a delaware community college with jill biden, the first lady who was in the courtroom, arrived here this morning. she's left for lunch, but she and also ashley biden, hunter biden's half sister here to support mr. biden on this very important day for him, chris. >> ken dilanian, thank you for the update. let's go now to the biden campaign's pride month push to reach lgbtq voters. allies worry support may be dropping off. aaron gilchrist was the first to report the story. what's the plan? >> i think the biden campaign would say it doesn't have major concerns about support dropping in the lgbtq community. at the same time, it made clear its strategy is not to take any vote for granted and it wants to, as is the case with the lgbtq community, go after and be in front of potential voters early and often, is the phrase that we have heard from the biden campaign so often. and so what we learned in our reporting told is that the biden campaign is launching this effort during pride month, the month of june, to go to lgbtq voters and make the case for president biden laying out what he's done to support the community. we know that the campaign intends to have -- members o. of the campaign or surrogates at 200 events throughout the month of june across the country particularly in battle ground states. in 23 states, we saw the first lady, dr. jill biden in pittsburgh at the pride festival there over the weekend speaking strongly about her husband's support for the lgbtq community, and speaking about the former president, donald trump's lack of support, if you will, for that community. we also expect to see more of this happening, potentially with the first lady and other members of the administration as well, there's also going to be a major advertising blitz, media campaign that focuses on lgbtq media outlets. we know the vice president is doing an interview today with one of those outlets while she's in california. this is really a part of the strategy to get in front of these voters and say president biden has supported the respect for marriage act. this is something that elevated and tries to shore up equality as it relates to marriage in this country. he's also hired and appointed hundreds of people to his administration to work in his administration, and they're going to work to contrast what president has done with what former president trump has said in terms of during has administration making sure that transgender people were not able to be parts of the military and having said that they believe, the campaign, the biden campaign believes that former president trump would work to limit freedoms and equalities for the lgbtq community. we expect that messaging to be throughout the month, and the month will wrap up after the presidential debate on june 27th. dr. biden and president biden will hold a fundraiser in new york city to benefit the biden victory fund. chris. >> aaron gilchrist, thank you. let's go to mexico now where the future is female. after claudia sheinbaum won the presidential election. nbc's guad venegas is following this story from mexico city. what more can you tell us about the president elect and what the reaction is there? >> reporter: chris, well, she was the favorite coming into election day. mexico has gone through a lot of change over the last few decades. if you look at the legislature, half of congress are women in mexico. both leading candidates were women. today we can say that claudia sheinbaum is the president-elect. she took about 58% of the vote. we can expect the president, who is an ally to the current president, to continue with a lot of the same policies that focus on helping the under served communities, low income individuals in mexico. state run programs like an airport, government-run airline, the use of trains once again for public transportation, policies that have been put in place by the government. and the voters we spoke to were happy to see a woman elected as the new president, but also worried about the violence. we did speak with not a voter, but a young girl today who was next to us with her mother who said, you know, this is very exciting for her as a 15-year-old who's looking to one day become a dentist. this is what she had to say. >> i feel grateful for witness this new change in history moment, and i hope everything's going to be fine. >> reporter: and that was the same sentiment with other voters that we spoke to, women who say they are now in college, others who are professionals who feel like this might change things going into the future. now, also a physicist, she has a ph.d. in energy engineering, which brings a lot of hope when it comes to climate change issues here or a solution for climate change, and also finding renewable energy options in mexico. she already said right away last night that it will not go up and also mexicans can expect the price of their electric bill to remain the same. these are two things that mexicans care about, just like americans, the price of gasoline and the price of the power bill. we expect her to pay more attention to other ways in which mexico can focus on renewable energy. and there's another issue that has been discussed a lot, the issue of public safety in mexico. we had a violent election campaign with dozens of candidates or aspiring candidates assassinated and issue public safety across mexico. organized crime has been able to infiltrate a lot of local governments. they have been fighting to take control of local authorities, local police, also just operate their businesses in rural parts of the country, and that's been a real issue that has brought a lot of violence to mexican citizens. we'll have to wait and see what sheinbaum will do with that problem. >> she's got her hands full, no doubt about it. surprising research showing cancer patients may do better with less intensive treatment. nbc news house unit medical fellow dr. ackshay joins me. >> there's a phenomenon called deescalation. can we keep the outcomes the same by reducing the side effects. cancer treatment comes with side effects, chemotherapy and radiation. they looked at ovarian cancer, esophageal cancer, and asked the question, all the treatments we have been using, do we need to use them as drugs have gotten better, do we need throw the kitchen sink at this. turns out we might not need to. slight pull back didn't increase the outcomes. >> there's an old saying that the treatment is worse than the disease. if you talk to any oncologist, they will tell you that they have had patients who were made so sick by their treatment, they didn't want to continue with treatment. obviously for these three cancers, this could be big news. does it have implications for many types of cancer? >> absolutely. today's news is about the three cancers. there have been trials with cervical cancer, pancreatic cancer. pullback doesn't increase the outcomes and reduces the side effects. as we get better and better cancer treatments, the treatments are targeted towards genes and mutations. hopefully they affect the body loss, things like hair loss, damaging fertility from radiation. hopefully we can dial some of that back and not reduce any of the positive effects of the cancer treatment at the same time. >> really important work. akshay syal, thank you so much. two former federal prosecutors will talk about how to pick a jury that can be fair for a trial surrounded by politically charged rhetoric. we'll be right back. we'll be ri. 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(♪♪) is he? claritin clear? yeah. fast relief of allergies with nasal congestion, so you can breathe better. claritin plus decongestant. live claritin clear®. . already today, seven potential jurors have been excused from serving on hunter biden's federal gun charges case, specifically for saying they could not be impartial toward the president's son, one saying very bluntly, quote, i don't think i could be fair and impartial from my personal opinion, and when asked what that was, she said, not a good one. sorry. it's tense moments like these unfolding not only in front of hunter biden but the first lady as well, who is spending part of her birthday with him inside that courtroom. when there was a lunch break, she left about 30 minutes ago. and even though president biden is not there today, his image is. "politico" noting that as the president's son walked into the lobby of the federal courthouse, quote, he passed by a familiar sight, a large photo of his father supporting a reassuring grin. i want to bring in former federal prosecutor and msnbc legal analyst, glenn kirschner, also with us, criminal defense attorney and another former federal prosecutor, duncan levin. i have been reading this along, as we have been seeing notes get put in. i want to read a couple of potential jurors being asked a slew of questions about his unique position as the son of a president, including quote, do you disagree that the law should apply equally to all, including the son of a president. we talked about how difficult it would be initially to set a jury for trump. are there challenges given the high profile of the family and the defendant and the location? one juror actually said, you know, it's delaware. it's delaware. everybody knows about joe biden and his family. >> this is biden territory. as much and away as new york was trump territory for a long time. trump had his businesses in a split screen between the two trials is undeniable. a key difference that this was a former president in new york on trial, and this the son of the current president. two different things. in delaware, the biden name is everywhere and the president's picture is in the courthouse, right in the lobby. it's going to be hard to find a jury who doesn't know who he is, but that's not unique to this case. there are a lot of cases that have a lot of notoriety. there are murder cases in small towns all across america where everybody knows who the defendant is. the real challenge is finding people who can be fair. it's not politically fair but judge in a fair manner. >> people don't want to be associated with anything that has to do with a political high profile because it makes them nervous. >> there are a lot of people who don't want to do jury duty in the first place. they're always trying to get out of jury duty. the fact that there are people trying to get out of jury duty is not about this in particular. things have become so politicized and there are reports coming out that people are trying to doxx or show personal information of the jurors in the trump trial. i think there's a fear they will be wrapped up into something that's bigger than judging the facts in the trial which have become not only politicized but spilled out into the internet in a very personal and add homonym way. the jurors have to be nervous coming into the trials, this is going to affect them the rest of their lives. >> we saw one juror talk about her boyfriend who struggles with addiction. the president, in a statement today wrote about that. how do you think that could impact how both sides handle this case? i thought i would see objections from the prosecution, frankly. i'm sorry, from, yeah, the prosecution about whether whether people said they were involved or knew someone who was involved with addiction, could it go both ways, though? >> yeah, it's such a delicate issue when addiction plays a role in the evidence that they are going to hear because what this entire case boils down to, chris, and it's the kind of case that i never brought in my 30 years as a prosecutor, a case that involves really only the crime of purchasing a firearm and lying about the fact that you use or are addicted to an illegal drug or a narcotic. you check the box saying, no, i am not addicted and i'm not a user. that's the kind of thing that, you know, for better or worse happens every day. you know, all over the united states. and it rarely gets prosecuted. unless, the person goes on to use that gun in a violent crime, for example, we'll bring charges for the crime of violence, and we might tack on this kind of relatively low level crime a 922a charge. that's really the only charge. there are three but it's basically all surrounding the fact that he bought a gun and possessed a gun while he was a user or an addict. everybody, i think, has friends, family, common experiences with folks who struggle with addiction. i think this case presents kind of a jury nullification. they're going to be able to see the fair and impartial jury. they did it in the trump case and the manafort case. they did it in the menendez case that's ongoing in new jersey, but i do think when jurors are asked, you know, what they make of the fact that he may have lied about being a drug user on an addict, and whether they're going to be willing to vote guilty based on the facts and the law, as they have been reported, it seems like they should. but, you know, jury nullification, how jurors feel about the righteousness of a particular case being brought is something that always potentially factors into a case like there. >> this trial, as you know, almost didn't happen. there was a plea deal to separate charges that would have led to these charges being dropped. that fell apart. there was an op-ed in the "new york times," hunter biden should take a plea deal quickly. we don't know what's going on behind the scenes, but is that possible? >> it's unclear if a plea agreement is on the table at this point. it may be the special prosecutor doesn't want to look lenient like he's giving the president's son a special deal at this point. it's hard to imagine that politics aren't at play here. this was a case that was supposed to be wrapped up with another case going to trial in september in california where mr. biden is looking at federal charges on fax evasion and that's coming in september. in july of this year, this was all supposed to be wrapped up with two misdemeanor tax charges and this conduct was supposed to disappear with pretrial diversion and he was going to be barred from having a handgun again. it's hard to imagine that after that blew up, the prosecutors, and this is a special counsel now, is not bowing to some kind of political pressure and they're here in the midst of their trial. i think they're likely to go full force ahead. >> the lunch break is over in ten minutes. another 20 potential jurors will be brought back in, and we will continue to follow it. glenn kirschner, and duncan levin. thank you so much. we have breaking news. just moments ago, the israeli military announced the fate of four hostages being held in gaza. nbc's matt brad bradley joins m. what do we know? >> we heard about four hostages have been killed. three were in their 80s. they pled for their lives, claimed they were suffering from severe illnesses and faulted the israeli government for not getting them released earlier, and then there was a fourth one in addition to that that hamas had already said had been killed in israeli attacks, and that wasn't confirmed by hamas or the israelis, but it's being confirmed today. here is the spokesman for the idf, the israeli defense forces, real admiral daniel hagari. >> they were killed together in the area of khan younis in the operation against hamas. the information we confirmed by the relevant bodies after assessing new intelligence that we gathered over the last few weeks. we also informed the family, the paramedic who left his home on october 7th to save lives, he left his home to save lives. he left behind him his wife pregnant and his three children. in the shelter. he left them to save lives, and he was murdered by hamas, and we revealed the remains of the body. >> reporter: so as you can hear from what admiral hagarai just said, they haven't come to an assessment whether it was israeli air strikes that killed the four men. a reminder, 250 people were seized by hamas and allies on october 7th. about half of those numbers were released in previous swaps for some of these hostages and quite a few of them have since died, and the israelis assess that about 85 of those are still alive. we have heard this before where the israelis have come out and said based on their own intelligence, based on their own information, they think further hostages have been killed or died from their wounds that they suffered on october 7th. now, all of this, chris, comes as we're seeing new signs from israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu who said that he was open to these negotiations that have since been over the past couple of days put forward, and it looks like there was a glimmer of hope in the past couple of days, we could see some kind of hostage swap, some kind of cease fire, and maybe even a discussion from a permanent cease fire. it sounds as though it's going to be very very difficult to bridge the gap in negotiations between hamas on one side, who wants to see a complete end to israel's incursion into the gaza strip, and the israelis. stated goal is to destroy hamas before the israelis end their military operations. these two positions are just as far apart as they have been since october 7th. so there